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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26737336">Bending Kunai</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndecidedAnimeGirl/pseuds/UndecidedAnimeGirl'>UndecidedAnimeGirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender, Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>And Quite Possibly A Fanboy, And Toph Has Adopted Her, And she does not care, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Badass Toph Beifong, But the Ninjas Don't Know That, Gen, Hinata is the Sweetest Cinnamon Roll, Okay Maybe She Cares A Little, Toph 'Because I Said So' Beifong, Toph Bashes Sense Into Some Fangirls, Toph Beifong Being Awesome, Toph Beifong Swears Sometimes, Toph Giving Nicknames, Toph Sees Sasu-chan's Angsty Backstory, Toph and Kiba Are Bros, Toph and Naruto Are Bros, but not very much, toph is blind</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:08:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,265</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26737336</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndecidedAnimeGirl/pseuds/UndecidedAnimeGirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ah, she thinks. This is what Aang meant when he was talking about reincarnation.</p><p>Or</p><p>Toph Beifong is reincarnated into the Narutoverse, and she is taking nobody's shit.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>I Have Yet To Decide - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>391</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1279</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Mixed_Fics</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Getting My Bearings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Toph Beifong is blind.</p><p>Well, <em>duh</em>. That's never exactly stopped her before. She doesn't need to see. She can feel the vibrations of the earth, allowing her to locate the tiniest ant tiptoeing dozens of miles away. At least, she used to. Now, she's out of tune. The earth is thrumming but she can't feel it, just scratchy cloth. She can't hear the moles burrowing, just some form of weird cooing. She can't taste the climate on the air, just some odd rubbery thing pressed into her mouth at regular intervals.</p><p>Toph Beifong is blind, and it terrifies her.</p><p>She tosses and turns and thrashes and wails until she can't even think anymore, looking for the one thing that has <em>always </em>been there for her, then rests up and does it all again. It's there, she <em>knows. </em>How could it not be? You can't move the earth. You can't hide it. It's there, it always has been there, it always will be there, and there isn't jack squat anybody can do about it. So why can't she feel it?</p><p>Toph doesn't know how long she fights, trying to re-connect to the earth. After what she thinks is an eternity, she is lifted up by <em>something it has me what is it where am I what's going on help <strong>please </strong></em>and set down on a hard surface. She collapses into it, savoring something solid for the first time in an age. She lays down and she <em>listens</em>. With a click not unlike that of a joint popping back into place, she can <em>feel </em>again. There's a crib a ways behind her, and cushions strewn all over the room, and toys that seem to have been designed with a child in mind, and two people, living, breathing, human <em>people,</em> a man and a woman, probably a couple, standing in the doorway.</p><p>She tries to haul herself up, to ask how she, a woman over a century old, found herself in a child's nursery, but her muscles, once sleek, defined, and tightly coiled from years of fighting, are now chubby and weak. Incapable of their assigned task. When she tries to speak, all that comes out is some burbling noise.</p><p><em>Ah, </em>she thinks. <em>This is what Aang meant when he was talking about reincarnation.</em></p><hr/><p>Toph has always been a quick learner. She's never been able to reference notes or reminders, so she'd been forced to remember things she'd only heard once clearly and without error since she was young enough to be truly hampered by her blindness. Between that, her seismic sight, her new parents' efforts, and her learning-oriented baby brain, she's picked up the language to shaky proficiency a little after what she thinks is her second birthday. It is for that reason she knows when her sentence is handed down.</p><p>At three years old, her parents take her for a doctor's visit- the first since she was born. She toddles along after them, glad to have a chance at an independent early life this time around. It doesn't occur to her that they don't know until it's too late.</p><p>The moment the nurse sees them, she starts cooing over her and holding her hand. Toph would be offended if she didn't know it was normal for three-year-olds to hold hands.</p><p>Her parents ask why the nurse is being so clingy.</p><p>"What do you mean?" she asks, confused.</p><p>"Why are you being so clingy? She can follow along."</p><p>"Uh, no she can't."</p><p>"Why wouldn't she?"</p><p>"You mean... you don't know?" she asks, almost hopefully.</p><p>"Don't know what?!"</p><p>The nurse's tone is sympathetic and just the tiniest bit condescending. Toph doesn't like her much anymore.</p><p>"This child is blind."</p><p>Her parents gape. Toph can feel whatever chances she had at freedom slipping down the drain.</p><hr/><p>When she's first declared blind, she thinks it will be like her first life all over again: cared for and coddled, always watched, slowly being stifled by the presence of people she doesn't want near her. It's not quite so bad, at first. Her family is not as well-off as her last one, she knows. Therefore, her mother has to go back to work- they can't gamble on her father keeping his job indefinitely. They most certainly can't hire somebody to look after her in her mother's stead. Instead, they install railings on the walls, so she can use them to find her way around. She doesn't need them, of course, but it's... nice, to have the consideration without the patronization, as well as guaranteed alone time every day.</p><p>Unfortunately, 'not bad' and 'good' are not synonymous. Her parents forbid her from leaving the house. They're just worried, she knows, but she doesn't want to live the rest of her life trapped in four walls. It was the whole reason she started fighting in her last life- a hobby she wouldn't mind taking up again.</p><p>It doesn't take long for Toph to decide to sneak out. Slipping past the neighbors and into the small forest dividing their suburb from the next one over is almost disappointingly easy. There, she trains, regaining all the muscle and reflex she lost upon reincarnation.</p><p>Sometimes, Toph can feel pieces of metal- knives, wires, odd, star-shaped frisbees- laying around, just beyond the forest. Now, Toph Beifong is not a thief. But if someone just decides to leave perfectly good metal sitting around for a week or more... well, she can't exactly let it go to waste, now can she?</p><p>Slowly, surely, she rebuilds her battle kit from her previous life. Kunai lengthen into tough cords, stars mould into armor... Soon enough, she's battle-ready, albeit a bit smaller than she's used to. Out of nostalgia, she indents the Republic City Police Emblem and the Beifong Flying Boar into the armor, one on top of the other. On her cord-spools, she engraves the symbol of the four elements. Idly, she wonders if she's gone soft in her old age.</p><p>When not in use, her armor and weaponry are hidden under a floorboard. She always keeps a few bracelets of various bendable materials on at all times, but full-body metal armor was a bit much for a sneak around town- something she definitely did. Once she punched out the bottoms of her shoes, that is.</p><p>It's on one of these trips that her life changes in a major way. She was strolling through town, studiously ignoring the whispers about her age, when she notices something very odd. There is a man, in the alley off to the left, who is currently walking down a wall far too slowly to be using fire or air to break his fall. She knows for a fact he isn't using earth or water- she would've felt the vibrations if he was. So how was he doing it?</p><p>She mentally squishes herself into what she calls her, 'information gathering mode.' Sokka used to call it, 'innocent blind child scam trap mode,' back when they were scamming. Swallowing her sadness at the thought of one of her best friends, Toph runs up to the man.</p><p>"Wow mister, how'd you do that with the wall and the walking and the sticking?"</p><p>Toph can feel the amusement from this man in his stance and heartbeat. Well, at least he doesn't think she's faking.</p><p>"I used chakra."</p><p>She tilts her head as innocently as she can manage, making sure to line up her eyes with his face, like she'd learned to do during interrogations as Chief of Police- she doesn't want to be remarked upon as blind. The guy might decide to take her back home if he realizes.</p><p>"Chakra?"</p><p>"It's how ninja do their ninja tricks."</p><p>"Ninjas?"</p><p>"They fight to protect the village."</p><p>Fighting? Protecting? Sounds like her dream job.</p><p>"Alright! Then I'll become a ninja and keep my parents safe!"</p><p>She makes a show of being embarrassed.</p><p>"Uh, how do I become a ninja?"</p><p>The man chuckles.</p><p>"You have to sign up at the Academy once you turn six."</p><p>"Thanks mister!" She grins as widely and, dare she say, goofily as she can manage. The man chuckles again.</p><p>"Of course. What's your name, little one?"</p><p>"I'm Sorano Naoko." Toph recites the name she's been given in this new life, in the backwards fashion she's been taught, but it doesn't feel quite right to her. Deep inside, she still feels like Toph Beifong of Gaoling- three-time Earth Rumble Champion and Republic City's first Chief of Police.</p><p>"Uchiha Kyo." Toph commits everything about him she can to memory (stride, heartbeat, weight, build), and files it under Kyo Uchiha. "I have to get back to my patrol. See you around, little one."</p><p>So saying, Uchiha Kyo walks back up the wall and begins hopping from roof to roof. Toph <em>had</em> to look into this ninja thing.</p><hr/><p>Toph spends the rest of the day investigating ninjas and the Academy. She discovers, to her mild horror, that there are no benders in this world (except her, it seems). Only ninja, who can do bender-ish things, but they use chakra to control the five- five!- elements with jutsu, specialized moves. According to the doctor lady's rant when said doctor found out she wanted to be a ninja, using too much chakra can maim or kill them, though. She also learned that they have a tendency to stick themselves with their own kunai- knives- shuriken- those star-shaped things- and senbon- needles- which are poisoned more often than not. She's fairly sure the doctor was exaggerating. Hopefully.</p><p>But the most important thing she learns that day is from one of the mothers at the park. She learns that admission to the Ninja Academy is free, but you have to buy your own materials- textbooks, kunai, and the like.</p><p>That evening, Toph asks her new parents about being a ninja. They explain, as delicately as they can, that blind girls can't be ninja. Toph pouts and sags while she makes plans to sign herself up.</p><hr/><p>The day after her sixth birthday, Toph prepares herself to become a ninja. If she wants this to succeed, the Academy teachers have to think she can see. Otherwise she'll be shot down so fast she'll get whiplash.</p><p>Toph forgoes her usual hairstyle in favor of a braid she'd learned from Katara, minus the hair loopies- seeing people don't cover their eyes. The outfit she puts on has been carefully vetted by way of asking her mother if it looks good several times over, as well as what the colors are, and running her hands over it several times to familiarize herself with the design, then making sure she can do all of her katas in it. She bends earth and metal she's scavenged into two thick bracelets, so she has bendables in case they want her to show fighting prowess to enter. With help from her parents, she's learned her address- 29 Tetsuno, Yuki-ku, Konoha-ken, Hi no Kuni. All-in-all, she's ready for anything. She even has two hundred and fifty-six ryo she's scavenged from the street in pocket change! It wouldn't buy much, but it was enough for a weapons holster, or maybe a couple kunai, if she'd interpreted what she'd overheard that blacksmith's daughter saying right.</p><p>She spent last night figuring out a cover story. If asked, she'll say her parents work long hours, and sent her to register herself because they didn't have the time to do it with her. If told to fill out forms, she'll say she hasn't been taught to read or write yet and get help from whomever she can. Combat testing will be tailored to hide as much of her bending as possible- one of the moms at the park had mentioned her fourteen-year-old shinobi son learning his first elemental jutsu, as they called it, just recently. If one move was that significant, she didn't want to draw attention with her full style. Once upon a time, she would've jumped at the chance of recognition, but now... Fighting was fun. Being important was not. With importance came paperwork, assassination attempts, and a severe shortage of free time.</p><p>Toph slips on her soleless shoes and sets out.</p><p>It doesn't take her long to reach the Academy. It's actually not too far from her house. She thinks her parents had planned for her to be a ninja, before they realized she was blind.</p><p>Carefully, Toph makes her way into the office and up to the front desk. She makes a point of moving her eyes to line up with the receptionist's face. In her last life, she'd learned to make eye contact(ish) as an interrogation method. Now, she uses it to infiltrate.</p><p>Slipping into, 'helpless daughter' mode, she precariously pushes herself up onto her toes.</p><p>"Excuse me," weight distribution implies... "Ma'am?"</p><p>The receptionist stops her scribbling and moves her face towards her. Toph can feel the patronization coming on.</p><p>"Hello sweetie! What can I do for you?"</p><p>Yup. This woman could watch her murder a puppy and would probably think she was 'precious.' Well, if it lets her be a ninja...</p><p>"My parents told me to come here and register for the ninja Academy. Uh, do you know where I go to do that?"</p><p>"That's right here sweetheart." She taps a stack of papers on the desk. "Do you need help filling out the forms?"</p><p>Toph nearly gapes. It was that easy? She didn't even have to ask for help! Then again, it's bad policy to look a gift ostrich-horse in the beak...</p><p>"Yes please."</p><p>The next half-hour is spent giving her address and being walked through required materials. The receptionist, apparently a ninja herself, walks her through the difference between combat and throwing kunai (she even lets her hold them!), what kind of shuriken to get, how much ninja wire she needs, where to tie her weapons holster, and what books to acquire, all with sickeningly saccharine sweetness she has no choice but to go along with. The books are, as of now, out of her price range, but she ought to be able to afford the weapons holster, and she was planning on scavenging/making the weapons and wire anyway. She'll have to find some way to fake having the textbooks, 'cause like hell she's going to spend money on books she can't read anyways.</p><p>"Oh, I'll need your name too, sug."</p><p>It suddenly occurs to her that someone at the Academy may recognize Sorano Naoko as 'the blind girl.' It wouldn't be safe to use that name. She needed a fake one. Or maybe...</p><p>"Toph. Beifong Toph."</p><p>"Term begins September 3rd, Beifong-chan."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay, so, apparently, people actually like this fic???  I've gotten more comments on the first day than I ever have on ff.net??? I have no idea why people like this, I legit just chucked words at a page so I could figure out how AO3 works??? As a result of the insane levels of community support I've recieved, I'm plowing on full speed ahead with the fuzziest plan I've ever had going into a fic, no canon knowledge past the Tsunade Retrieval Arc, and enough dubious wiki and fanon knowledge to confuse Kishimoto-sama himself. Lets do this y'all!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It takes her two months, but Toph can proudly state herself the owner of a full Academy curriculum set. Modified for the studious blind girl, of course. She's managed to collect twenty throwing kunai, two combat kunai, three braces of sixteen shuriken, and twenty-five meters of ninja wire from various training grounds she'd loitered near. The weapons holster and notebook, unfortunately, have to be bought, which sucks up all the money she'd scavenged from the ground, as well as forcing her to run a quick one-day scam. The textbooks are gleefully ignored. With any luck, paying attention in the lectures will be enough.</p><p>Her collection of 'vetted' outfits is increased to three, so she won't have to worry about some-one calling her out on wearing the same thing every day. Indeed, she now knows that in addition to the 'green' qipao top looking good with the 'brown' pants, the 'light blue' qipao top is adorable with the 'olive green' pants, and the 'dark purple' qipao top goes well with the 'black' pants. Today, she chooses the 'green' top. 'Green,' she knows, is the color of grass. Earthbender garments, in her last life, were also the color of grass. She huffs a dry chuckle as she dresses herself. Old age really has made her soft, hasn't it?</p><p>Toph assembles all her weapons in the thigh holster she bought, according to the instructions the vendor gave her. Then, she ties it around her left leg. Apparently it's easier to draw from the opposite side. Toph would rather have easy access for her dominant hand than her non-dominant.</p><p>Notebook in hand, Toph sets off. The way to the Academy is short and easy to navigate. In fact, she could probably do it blindfolded! Toph chuckles to herself and mentally dubs her joke Sokka-worthy. Stubbornly swallowing the influx of emotions that simple reference brings, Toph soldiers onwards. She has a title to reclaim, after all. A smirk graces her features. The Greatest Earthbender In The World has returned.</p><hr/><p>Toph marches into the Academy building and up to the front desk. Idly, she notes that the receptionist is different this time. Either that or they've gained a few pounds and changed the way they sit.</p><p>"Hello. I'm here for my first day at Ninja Academy. Can you please tell me where I need to go?" A pause, as the receptionist looks up from whatever paperwork they were doing.</p><p>"Name?" The question is dripping with disinterest. Well, so long as they aren't babying her...</p><p>"Beifong Toph." It's still weird to say her name backwards like she's expected to.</p><p>"Lovely... the totally-not-a-Hyuuga-bastard..." The last bit is mumbled, but Toph catches it. Since her name is, in this world, 'Sorano,' she thinks it's safe to assume the receptionist is speaking in the literal sense, as opposed to insulting whomever this 'Hyuuga' is. Curiously, if she was visibly 'Hyuuga' enough for it to have apparently become gossip with the receptionists, her father would likely have called her mother out for cheating, or at least had a conversation about it by now. Maybe this world wasn't as serious about marital fidelity? She'd heard about 'open marriages' existing in her old world. No, the moms who hung around the park always seemed quite ready to call the faith of any of the vendors into question, with plenty of gasping to go with it. If it was an accepted phenomenon, the moms wouldn't be so excited about it.</p><p>"Class 1-A. It's the first door on your right, you can't miss it if you try." Toph snapped out of her 'detective mode' and nodded her thanks. After all, what did it matter? Hyuuga or not, she's still Toph Beifong, Greatest Earthbender In The World. A smirk flashed over her face as she made her way to the classroom. Perhaps she'd see about getting her title a bit earlier this time around. From behind her, Toph heard the distinct swoosh of a pen marking something off. Her smirk was quickly smothered at the thought of paperwork. Her title could wait a little longer, right?</p><p>Mentally preparing herself to try and impersonate a seeing person for a whole day, Toph pushed open the door and stepping into her classroom, stepping more heavily than she normally would to subtly get a better image of the room. All wooden, it seems... The seating is kind of like the lecture rooms in Ba Sing Se and Republic City Universities. Toph thinks there's a blackboard mounted behind the teacher's desk, though it could also be a mounted map or an oversized photo of some sort. It's probably either for decoration (in the case of the photo) or drawing combat maneuvers (if it's a map or blackboard) like the Police Academy did.</p><p>There's already some-one sitting at the teacher's desk. They're too large to be a student, so they're probably the teacher themselves. There's a few smaller humans sitting in the lecture area as well. One is in the back corner, apparently asleep, judging by position and heartbeat. There's a very heavy for his size kid sitting next to him, apparently eating chips. Maybe they're trying to be a Pipsqueak-style fighter? Build themselves up into a human wrecking-ball and blast through enemy combatants. That or he just really likes chips. Toph silently prays it's the first one. She's had her fair share of less-than-dedicated police cadets, and they were always the most annoying creatures on the face of the planet.</p><p>There's a kid sitting right next to the left wall staring at a bug that's sitting on his finger. The kid also has several bugs crawling on him. Her instincts go straight to a weird mix between 'gross,' 'pity,' and 'cool,' before remembering one of those moms at the park mentioning her son being on a team with an 'Aburame,' who apparently used bugs to fight. She had no idea how it worked, but the knowledge was enough to place the kid firmly in the 'cool' category. Finally, there was a girl in the front left with her head angled down at the desk who was tapping her fingers together. Redirecting her attention away from her classmates(?), Toph faces the probably-teacher and speaks.</p><p>"This is Class 1-A?"</p><p>"That it is. Would you happen to be a student of mine?" The man's voice is genial, but not babying. A bit more dismissive than she'd prefer, but she <em>is </em>six...</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"Right then, name?"</p><p>"Beifong Toph." Still weird.</p><p>"Right then Beifong-kun," Fuck if this isn't the weirdest she's ever felt in public. Why the hell does everybody here use last names first? They're last for a reason, you know. "You can go sit next to Hyuuga-kun."</p><p>Her teacher gestures to the girl tapping her fingers together. Toph nods and sits down next to her. She's not too happy about being in the front, but you can't have everything in life.</p><p>Over the next fifteen minutes, the rest of Toph's classmates start trickling in. She gains another neighbor in the form of one 'Inuzuka Kiba,' who promptly tells her to 'just call me Kiba.' Toph likes him.</p><p>With Kiba comes a puppy named Akamaru, who will apparently help Kiba fight when he becomes a real ninja. Toph isn't sure how this tiny scrap of a pup is supposed to fight, but she gives Akamaru a scritch behind the ears anyway. Akamaru yips in response.</p><p>"Now you mention it..." Kiba mutters.</p><p>"Now I mention what?"</p><p>"Uh, Akamaru just said it's kinda hard to get your scent. You smell mostly like rocks and such, earth in general, you know? A bit like metal, too. It makes it hard to tell from all the rest of the ground and the metal from kunai and such."</p><p>In Toph's previous world, a guy describing her scent to her would be weird, not to mention stalkerish. But this isn't her previous world, now is it? For all she knows, she's the weird one for having such a hard-to-pin-down smell! Better to go with some sort of middle ground...</p><p>"You got all that just from sitting next to me?"</p><p>Kiba's weight shifts. He's puffing himself up.</p><p>"Yup! The Inuzuka have the best nose in Konoha. We can track a guy across the continent in good conditions; across the country in bad."</p><p>"Cool." Toph wishes she'd had some-one like that when she was chief of police. It would've made finding those stupid Triple Threat hideouts so much easier...</p><p>"Anyway, that's me and Akamaru. What's your name?"</p><p>"I'm Beifong Toph. I don't care about honorifics or anything, just call me Toph."</p><p>"Huh, weird. I've never heard of a Beifong clan..."</p><p>"Um, there isn't one?" There is. It's a merchant clan, in Gaoling. </p><p>"Hang on, you're a civvie!?"</p><p>Did she accidentally break some sort of rule about who could be a ninja? Eh, she can just beat anybody up who calls her on it.</p><p>"I think so?"</p><p>"Wow. Most civilians get really freaked out when I tell them what they smell like."</p><p>So knowing people's scents was a ninja-only thing. Good to know, though a bit weird. Why would it be different for ninja and non-ninja?</p><p>"Why? It's awesome."</p><p>Toph thinks Kiba is grinning. She doesn't know why she thinks that, but she can't shake the impression.</p><p>"I think you're officially my favorite civvie. I had you pinned as a weirdly not-stuck-up Hyuuga-" The girl to her right, Hinata, twitches. Perhaps she's a Hyuuga? "-at first though. You've got the eyes, you know?" Hinata goes rigid as a board. "Well, maybe not the actual eyes, but it looks like it." Hinata relaxes back to how she was sitting before.</p><p>"The eyes?"</p><p>"You know, the Byakugan?" Toph's confusion must've shown on her face, because Kiba keeps going. "Lets you see behind you and through stuff and look at chakra systems and all that? They're all white and don't have a pupil so they look kinda freaky?" Hinata twitches yet again.</p><p>"I can't say I can see through things." But she wished she could. No more waiting around for search warrants, just casually stroll by. No muss, no fuss, no idiots trying to sue her department... This ninja thing is looking better every day.</p><p>From her right, Hinata pipes up.</p><p>"Um... that might be because you haven't tried?" Toph swivels her head and adjusts her eyes to point in the direction of what she hopes is Hinata's face. Kiba leans forward, presumably so he can see Hinata. Hinata's shoulders scrunch upwards and inwards and she starts tapping her fingers together.</p><p>"Uh, what I mean is... Well, if you've never channeled chakra to your eyes, you might have Byakugan but just not know it? You might be an illegitimate Hyuuga or some such."</p><p>Toph nearly snorts, but catches herself. There's no reason a seeing person would think the idea that they could see through things is funny. Far-fetched, maybe, but not funny.</p><p>"Chakra?"</p><p>"You don't know what chakra is!?"</p><p>"Nope." Toph pops the 'p.'</p><p>"Dude, I've known that stuff since I was like, three."</p><p>Toph shrugs. Her parents hadn't mentioned any kind of 'chakra' to her.</p><p>"Well, um... It's... It's the energy, that's inside you. It's what ninjas use to do jutsu."</p><p>The weird kind of bending people do here? Maybe it's just a different word for chi...</p><p>Kiba cuts through Toph's thoughts and Hinata's explanations.</p><p>"Alright, let's get to the cool stuff! Byakugan testing, here we come!"</p><p>"Well, we do need to be careful about it... If Beifong-san doesn't have enough chakra control, she could seriously damage her vision, Byakugan or not. That's to say nothing of whether or not she can channel chakra at all without any kind of instruction." Kiba quiets down at that.</p><p>"I know!" Hinata jumps at Kiba's sudden proclamation. "We can teach her! Then she'll have it figured out in no time!"</p><p>"<strong>Attention class 1-A!</strong>" Toph turns to listen to the (very loud) teacher. It wouldn't do to be kicked out on her first day for not paying attention...</p><p>Kiba stage-whispers in her ear. "We'll teach you at lunch!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, so now some basic housekeeping.</p><p>1) I don't have any 'buffer' chapters stored up, so I'm updating on an as-completed basis. That means it could be anywhere from two hours to two years between updates (hopefully more of the former than the latter, but high school's a bitch, so...)<br/>2) Okay, originally, Toph was going to meet Naruto in this chapter? Then Kiba showed up? I actually have no idea how this happened. I may end up needing to change the tags, but who knows!<br/>3) Did I just make Toph's main source of information a slew of soccer-mom karens? Yes. Yes I did.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ink Sucks (Pencils Rule)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Toph's first day at Ninja Academy commences.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Guess who's back? This chapter has the pseudo-awaited explanation of how TF Toph is going to get through school without anybody realizing she's blind.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Toph is not amused.</p><p>Of all the classes to be her very first at Konohagakure no Sato's Shinobi Academy, why in the infinite cycle of reincarnation did it have to be fucking <em>handwriting!?</em> She'd never managed to learn in her last life, let alone while pretending to see. The stupid brushes get her all turned around. All those tiny fibers...  It's a spirit-cursed cacophony, and that doesn't even begin to cover the ink. Why does she even need to know this!? It's not like she has to write reports like she 'did' for the police or, spirits forbid, anything diplomatic.</p><p>But it's not whether it's useful that's the problem, is it? The problem is whether or not the teacher thinks it's useful, and whether Toph can fake seeing while doing it.</p><p>Toph sets her jaw. She is The Greatest Earthbender In The World, she is She Who Kicked The Ass Of Two Consecutive Avatars At Twelve And One Hundred And Twelve, Respectively. No stupid piece of paper is going to stop her from being a fucking <em>badass</em>. Anybody who says otherwise can take the matter up with her fists.</p><p>Pieces of paper are passed out. Toph is careful to flip her sheet the same number of times as Kiba does, to make sure it's right-side up. After all, there's no Sokka to tell her when the flyer is upside-down now. It's just... Toph... <em>Swallow.</em></p><p>Ready and raring to fight a (losing) battle, Toph waits for brushes to be handed out. Except... they never are. What she gets instead is some sort of... pointy stick? It's sharp on one end, and... filled with something? The center is soft, and exposed on the pointy side. Kiba and Hinata hold theirs near the tip, pointy-end down. Toph mimics them carefully.</p><p>Nothing more is passed out after the stick. No ink, no brushes, not even those pens reporters from her last life took to using. So how is Toph supposed to even try to write?</p><p>"The language of the Elemental Nations is represented with three distinct scripts." Iruka-sensei begins.</p><p>Fuck her life.</p><p>"The first is kanji, a pictographic script used exclusively in noble courts and in the ninja art of fuinjutsu. Unless you join Konoha's diplomacy team, there will be no reason for you to use this script. As such, we will not be covering it during your time as my students."</p><p>Thank the badger-moles! Only two scripts to juggle.</p><p>"The second is katakana, a syllabary of forty-six characters. It's used as a kind of italicized script, and we won't be learning it until next year.</p><p>The third script is also the most common. It's a syllabary as well, called Hiragana. It has the same number of characters as katakana. This year, we'll be learning and practicing this syllabary for forty-five minutes at the beginning of each day until your handwriting is just as good as mine. Now, please follow along with me on your paper. Our first character is the hiragana for 'a.'"</p><p>Okay, she can handle this (probably).</p><p>The teacher (Iruka-sensei, he introduced himself as) picks up a soft stick of what she's pretty sure is chalk, based on the bits of it flaking off and hitting the floor and the general density and structure. He raises it up and makes a large swoosh from left to right on the board. Hinata and Kiba lean forward and make similar swooshes with the pointy ends of their sticks. Hang on, are these writing utensils?!?! Without any ink?!? This is amazing! Brushes and ink confuse her to the spirit world and back, but sticks? She can find those in her sleep.</p><p>Careful to keep the size of her stroke consistent with Hinata's (no offense to Kiba, but she seems the more detail-oriented of the two), she swooshes her stick across the paper. Iruka-sensei marks another swoosh, this one crossing over the first and coming downwards. Toph follows along, just as carefully as she did with the first stroke. Next, Iruka-sensei makes an almost-circle that Toph thinks crosses the second stroke twice over.</p><p>
  <em>Swish.</em>
</p><p>Toph marks down the almost-circle.</p><p>"And that's it! You've just written your first character."</p><p>That's it? Just two swooshes and a circle? And she's written something? Everybody in the world can look at her marks and think, <em>that says 'a'</em>? She just... wrote? She just wrote. She can write now. Just like that. She's done something she's never been able to do before.</p><p>Is this what Zuko meant when he said the hardest struggles bear the greatest rewards?</p><p>He'd be so proud of her, if he were here. Spirits, they'd all be so proud. Sokka would make some sarcastic joke about the greatest earthbender in the world taking so long to learn to write. Suki would smack him and congratulate her. Aang would be silent, but she'd be able to feel how happy he was for her just from the way he stands up taller against the weight of the world (and a very whiny council) on his shoulders. Katara would give her the same kind of smile Aang would, but hers would be accompanied by her own statement of congratulations.</p><p>Distantly, she notices a tear slipping down her cheek. Smiling the same way she did when the Gaang stopped meeting up every month, the same way she did when Lin told her she didn't want to be involved with her anymore, she wipes it away.</p><p>"Are you alright, Beifong-san?" is whispered from her right.</p><p>"Yeah. I'm good."</p><p>Iruka-sensei's voice emanates from the front of the room.</p><p>"We'll spend the rest of today's lesson practicing this character. I'll come around and correct each of you individually."</p><p>Toph picks up her pencil, and she <em>writes.</em></p><hr/><p>After writing class is history. This class is a lot less emotionally charged than the previous one. Iruka-sensei walks them through the story of how Konoha was founded.</p><p>At first, it reminds her of how Republic City was founded. She can't say who embodies Aang's position and who embodies Zuko's, but she's never been one to split hairs. Then Madara defects and goes insane and Toph is suddenly very glad Zuko had a modicum of common sense (and that Azula didn't take the throne, but that's nothing new).</p><p>She's not so worried about what could have happened to the world; more what could have happened to Zuko when Mai and Katara found out.</p><p>The entire rest of the class is spent waiting for that Mito woman, or maybe some Uchiha girl Madara took an interest in, to show up and rain down hell like Katara would've. But they never show up. Instead, Hashirama up and kills the guy? Then he sticks a spirit fox in his wife, which is unequivocally the worst idea Toph has ever heard.</p><p>One does not simply <em>cage</em> an immortal spirit.</p><p><em>And then,</em> because the guy still hasn't grown a brain cell, he gives all the other villages more spirits to stick in more people, thereby making them jinchuuriki, or 'human sacrifices.' Yeah, Toph is worried for this new world of hers if <em>she's </em>the one with the most common sense.</p><p>In spite of her qualms with some of the decisions made, Toph does her best to memorize the story. After all, one must learn from the past if one wishes to better the future, as just about everyone she'd known had said at some point.</p><hr/><p>Lunch is Toph's next 'class.' The minute they're shuffled into the lunchroom, Kiba drags her and Hinata over to a table.</p><p>"Okay, we have got to figure this out. I need to know if the Hyuuga are capable of being cool!"</p><p>Hinata starts tapping her fingers together.</p><p>"Um... I think... I think the Hyuuga... the Hyuuga are quite cool, regardless of Beifong-san's membership."</p><p>Toph cuts in on instinct.</p><p>"Don't worry about the formalities with me; just call me Toph."</p><p>"Same here! Kiba's my name, might as well use it."</p><p>"Oh... Ah, in that case, I suppose you should call me Hinata."</p><p>Toph nods and pulls out her lunch- onigiri with mackerel. She'd been a bit suspicious when she'd first been offered the filled rice balls- what if they fell apart?- but over time she's come to love them. It was a full meal she could bring with her anywhere, and delicious to boot.</p><p>"Seriously though, how do we figure out if Toph has the byakugan? Teach us, o wise Hyuuga."</p><p>Hinata snorts, then rapidly covers her mouth.</p><p>"Snnrk... Oh, sorry. Um, I really didn't mean to..."</p><p>If she hadn't been visually impaired, Toph would've rolled her eyes.</p><p>"Cut the ladylike crap. You're happy, you laughed, end of story. Honestly could not care less."</p><p>"Uh, right, uhmm... Uh, we're here to try and ascertain whether or not you have the byakugan, yes?"</p><p>Toph and Kiba nod.</p><p>"Well, there's two things we can do. First, I can show you how to channel chakra, and we can see if anything happens when you do. This method is dangerous because there's a risk of damaging your eyes, byakugan or no, if your control isn't good enough. Second, I can activate my own byakugan and check your eyes for the additional chakra passages required to activate the byakugan. Unfortunately, I'm... I'm not very good at discerning fine details yet, so I might... I might be wrong, whatever my conclusion is."</p><p>"...So what are we doing?"</p><p>"Well, um, Kiba, uh, I think it would be wise to start by checking... by checking Toph with my own byakugan. We can try other methods if- if it doesn't work."</p><p>"Is this the kinda stuff you aren't supposed to do when other people are around? 'Cause if that's how it is I can skedaddle after school and you can let me know tomorrow..."</p><p>Hinata shakes her head frantically.</p><p>"No, it's fine. I can do it... I can do it right now if you like, Toph."</p><p>Toph shrugs.</p><p>"Go for it."</p><p>Hinata nods and... starts signing? Whatever, it's probably how ninja do their weird magic-eye-jutsu stuff.</p><p>Toph won't lie, she's curious. Not about whether or not she has some fancy eyes- she's not dumb enough to get her hopes up on that one. But about what her chi, or chakra, or whatever people decide to call it, looks like. Aang had always described chakras as spiritual gates and rivers. Just about any bender off the street can tell you that chi is the inner energy that lets people bend. So when Hinata says she's looking at her chakra, is she just using a different word to talk about chi? Or is she living in a world where everybody has unlocked their gates and they've all replaced their chi with the unblocked chakra? She'd tapped into the various spiritual energies when she went to live in the swamp, but she'd never heard anything about anybody, blind or no, actually seeing them. She'll never admit it, but she's a bit excited to learn about this.</p><p>"Huh." Is all Hinata has to say.</p><p>"So? Is Toph a Hyuuga?"</p><p>"Umm... She looks like a rock?"</p><p>Well, that's the weirdest thing anybody's ever said to her. It makes sense, but it's weird.</p><p>"I mean, her chakra looks the exact same as the ambient chakra in the ground and rocks? And like the chakra in metal, in a few spots."</p><p>"Weird... She smells like dirt and metal too."</p><p>Kiba and Hinata shifted towards her.</p><p>"So, you're secretly a rock?"</p><p>Toph shrugs.</p><p>"Apparently?"</p><p>The group (minus Toph) stares at each other in silence for a solid minute.</p><hr/><p>After lunch, Toph, Hinata, and Kiba are shuffled back into the classroom for lecture on chakra theory. Apparently, chakra is a mix of physical and spiritual energies. Toph is pretty sure the physical energy is what was called chi in her last life, and spiritual energy is what was referred to as chakras.</p><p>That is, until she remembers what Hinata said at lunch. Hinata had told her that her chakra, as in already mixed physical and spiritual energy, looks like a rock. If it's just the physical energy which allows her to bend, shouldn't she look like only half a rock (or whatever fraction of chakra is made up of physical energy)?</p><p>Iruka-sensei's lengthy lecture on how chakra is latticed to form jutsu doesn't help. In the end, Toph is forced to cut her losses on figuring out the bending/chi/chakra/jutsu dynamic in favor of memorizing some weird 'snake' hand signal which is apparently used very often for earth and lightning jutsu.</p><p>Toph thinks Hinata might've used this hand sign at some point when she was looking at her chakra, but she can't be sure.</p><p>Out of curiosity, Toph presses a tiny sliver of chi (or is it chakra?) into her hands. Nothing happens, though she thinks her seismic sight might be just a smidge clearer for the brief moment she holds it. Either that or it's her own excitement.</p><p>Once everyone has formed the hand sign at least once, Iruka-sensei shuffles them outside for the physical portion of class. It's not terribly difficult- just laps for a while, followed by the standard bodyweight exercises just about anybody can do. Toph is pretty sure Iruka-sensei is trying to get a benchmark more than trying to train them.</p><p>Toph's first day at Konohagakure no Sato's Ninja Academy ends mundanely. Iruka-sensei dismisses them, and Toph walks right out with Kiba and Hinata. As she does, she lets out a sigh of relief.</p><p>
  <em>Nobody found out.</em>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>After School~</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Hang on, did we ever figure out whether or not Toph has the byakugan?"</p><p>"Oh! Um, I didn't mention earlier, but I don't think so. If anything, the chakra passages around her eyes are more atrophied than a normal person."</p><p>Shit. That is not what Toph wants Hinata thinking about. Redirect!</p><p>"It's probably 'cause I'm a civvie."</p><p>That makes sense, right?</p><p>"Maybe... Father- Father... Father has told... Father has told me clan shinobi have innately larger chakra reserves and pathways than civilian-born ninja."</p><p>Bam. See Katara? Toph can be social too.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It seems I've somehow managed to make myself cry whilst writing about writing. I wish I could say I was surprised.</p><p>The more nitty-gritty stuff:<br/>1) It's always been a headcannon of mine that the reason Toph can't figure out how to write because the liquid of the ink throws off her seismic sense (and also that the thin layers of melted water prevents her from seeing on ice). With the use of pencils, this is rectified (for now). After all, if Toph can pinpoint ants from 10+ feet away, she can figure out where pens/brushes touch the paper. Unless, of course, something is throwing her off, such as, say, the ink<br/>2) I've gotten some reviews worrying about Toph becoming a Mary Sue. Allow me to reassure you: She will do so over my cold dead corpse while my sister hacks my account expressly to mess with me and deletes all the actual content I have. If any of you think Toph is treading a bit to close to Sue territory, tell me. Please. I refuse to have a Sue on my record.<br/>3) I don't know how much of the founding story I got right? I'm running off spoilers from fanfic and my best friend, so... If you see anything wrong let me know? I honestly hope I'm wrong, if this is the level of dramatic OOCness I can expect from canon, I can seriously understand why series rewrites exist. I mean, Madara practically dedicates his life to helping Hashirama set up his village (even after Izuna's death), then he just turns around and decides to destroy it? Just like that? I know he was supposed to get manipulated by Zetsu or something, but seriously? You can't manipulate some-one if there's no foundation there, which there really wasn't. It would've been more realistic if he snapped and killed Tobirama or some such (not that I want Tobirama dead, but the guy did kill Izuna)<br/>4) Why is it so hard to write Hinata? She's shy and she stutters. That's literally her entire character, aside from a crush that doesn't exist yet. Why?!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Flower Power</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Toph sorts some things out</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's so late where I am right now... But at least I have another chapter out! High school is still a bitch, plus I'm totally that one weird kids who loves keeping up with politics, so it's obviously been pretty busy recently. However, I shall heroically persevere against all obstacles to bring you this awesome fic! <br/>...<br/>...<br/>*abandons fic next chapter*<br/>(Just kidding, I swear!)</p>
<p>In other news, I got my sister to beta(ish) this fic, so hopefully the writing quality and such is better.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Toph's time in the Academy settles into an easy routine. She, Kiba, and Hinata have gravitated into an easygoing friendship. Hinata was way too shy to be healthy at first, but she's gotten better since Toph and Kiba <em>dealt with </em>those dumbasses on the playground who tried to tease her about her eyes. Toph has never the type to enjoy making children cry, but sometimes kids are little shits and deserve it (unless they're Hinata- she's an angel).</p>
<p class="p1">After a week, Iruka-sensei starts teaching them katas and sparring. It's weird, learning to fight without her bending, but Toph can see the use of it. Far less collateral damage in a fight. It's easier to manage if you've been chi-blocked or some such too.</p>
<p class="p1">Iruka-sensei also teaches them to throw their knives, like Mai did. Toph is really good at it once she starts giving her throws a little extra oomph with her bending. The shuriken, however, are very hard for Toph. They're worse than Sokka's cheat of a boomerang.</p>
<p class="p1">Shuriken are supposed to spin and curve through the air. Toph can figure out straight lines through the air just fine, but 3-D curves? When her only reference points are from before and after the thing flies, it's near impossible to figure out where she's going wrong. Is the shuriken curving too much or too little? Is it angled too sharp or too flat? Was she releasing too early or too late? Toph doesn't know.</p>
<p class="p1">Sometimes, when they practice next to each other, Hinata and Kiba will try to give her tips, but they could only do so much. The biggest problem is that they keep basing their advice off of what they think Toph can see.</p>
<p class="p1">"<em>See</em> how it's curving past the target? That means you're spinning it too much."</p>
<p class="p1">"I don't- don't think you're spinning it enough, Toph. Try spinning it a bit more, like this, <em>see</em>?"</p>
<p class="p1">"<em>See</em> what I did there? Try and make the arc wider, like I did."</p>
<p class="p1">Toph is glad for their help, but it grates on her that her lack of vision is having such a negative impact on one of her skills. Last Kiba told her, the only people in class with worse grades in shurikenjutsu are that loud, scrawny kid- Naruto (who she thinks one of the T.A.s doesn't like... maybe the victim of one of the kid's pranks?)- and the insanely lazy kid, Shikamaru. She has no doubt if either of them actually dedicated a solid ten minutes to figuring it out, they'd surpass her too.</p>
<p class="p1">While shurikenjutsu always leaves Toph 'in a mood,' as Katara would say, she takes solace in the fact that all of her other classes are fun and interesting. She's top of the class in the spars, and academically, she's just a smidge above average.</p>
<p class="p1">A month after term begins, Toph is asked to attend 'Kunoichi lessons' for gender-specific ninja training. She's highly suspicious of this, especially when Kiba says there's no shinobi equivalent and Hinata says she takes her Kunoichi lessons with her clan, but it's mandatory, so Toph tamps down her pride and goes. After all, it can't be worse than shurikenjutsu, right?</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">Wrong. Kunoichi classes are <em>way </em>worse than shurikenjutsu. She's surrounded by girly-girls who can't tell which end of a kunai to use and getting lectured on flowers and makeup and all that bullshit. What's worse, the instructor fed them some story about meeting 'the one' when one of the girls asked about the baby napping in the corner and now it's all any of them can talk about. Tell me Aiko-sensei, if your husband is so amazing, why the hell hasn't he taken the baby <em>once</em>!?</p>
<p class="p1">Toph knows her less-than-magical experiences with marriages don't apply to everybody, but she's also not dumb enough to think she's the only one who took on the responsibilities of a single mother before she was actually single. Seriously, this Makoto-kun needs to get his act together. It's not like he <em>has</em> to work long hours or anything- if Iruka-sensei can afford to buy Naruto ramen out-of-pocket just about every other day to the point that the kid brags about it, and from a shop at that, Makoto can take a part-time job and keep an eye on the baby every once in a while.</p>
<p class="p1">"Now, go ahead and try it yourself!"</p>
<p class="p1">Toph sighs and meanders over to the field to try and discern which plants are flowers and which are weeds by feel alone. Not as fun as one would think.</p>
<p class="p1">When Toph had first been subjected to the hell of Kunoichi class, she'd begged Hinata and Kiba ("I'm not a girl!" "They don't need to know that!") to either rescue her or join her. It hadn't taken, so Toph was left all alone in her quest to pretend she knows what color flowers and/or makeup are at any given moment. On the plus side, Aiko-sensei seemed to think being six meant it was normal to be unable to tell weeds from anything else, so she didn't get much flak there. Once or twice those idiots who tried to pick on Hinata (Ane? Ame? She can't remember the name) made a go at her, but she didn't much care.</p>
<p class="p1">"What's wrong billboard-brow, cat got your tongue?"</p>
<p class="p1">Looks like the bitch trio is at it again. Well, might as well go rescue a damsel in distress...</p>
<p class="p1">"Hey, idiots!"</p>
<p class="p1">Distantly, Toph notes that Ami just clamped her mouth shut around something. </p>
<p class="p1">...Eh, probably not important.</p>
<p class="p1">"In case you didn't realize the last several times you tried to pick on a perfectly sweet kid for no good reason, your messed-up version of 'just talking'- where you seem to be doing a good deal more than talking- is seriously hurting the people you're speaking with, in more ways than one. Now, I don't know what made you think that's okay, but I'm here to tell you it's <em>really </em>not. I've let you off relatively easy the last couple times, but if you keep this up don't think your flunkies are going to stop me from making absolutely sure you never so much as critique another person again, let alone <em>kick</em> them like you seem to be doing to this poor girl."</p>
<p class="p1">Another girly voice carries over the field.</p>
<p class="p1">"Couldn't have said it better myself. By the way, Ami, you may want to spit that out. It's poisonous, you know."</p>
<p class="p1">The now-named Ami spits whatever she had in her mouth out, then splutters for a few seconds before finally piecing together a coherent sentence.</p>
<p class="p1">"I'm telling Aiko-sensei about this!"</p>
<p class="p1">Ami turns tail and runs. Her friends are close behind her. Toph waits to make sure they actually leave, then heads over to the unfortunate victim of the idiots' most recent round of bullying.</p>
<p class="p1">"Oi, midget. You good?"</p>
<p class="p1">The girl hesitantly lifts her head up towards Toph from an almost-fetal-position. Toph scrambles to line her eyes up right.</p>
<p class="p1">"Um... yeah, I'm okay."</p>
<p class="p1">"Sakura! What have I told you about going off on your own when Ami and her cronies are around? I know you're a lot stronger than you used to be, but that won't help you three-on-one!"</p>
<p class="p1">"Three-on-two."</p>
<p class="p1">The other girl, who had presumably thrown the projectile, shifts her head towards Toph in an obvious question.</p>
<p class="p1">"Huh?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Three-on-two. I'm not one to tolerate bullying. If those girls bother either of you again, I'll help you set them straight, yeah?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Thank you, uh..."</p>
<p class="p1">"Beifong Toph. I'm not one for formalities though, so just call me Toph."</p>
<p class="p1">"Right. Thanks Toph."</p>
<p class="p1">"Anytime. Right, well, I'm off to horrifically fail this assignment. See you around, yeah?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Yeah."</p>
<p class="p1">"Why would you horrifically fail?" the girl who co-rescued... whatever the victim's name was, asks.</p>
<p class="p1">"I'm terrible at girly stuff. Never really seen the appeal of it all, you know? I'd pick a fight any day over etiquette and flowers."</p>
<p class="p1">"Hmm... Well, why don't you pick flowers with us? Maybe you'll like it more with somebody to show you the ropes."</p>
<p class="p1">Toph shrugs.</p>
<p class="p1">"Why not."</p>
<p class="p1">"Right! My name's Yamanaka Ino, and this is Haruno Sakura. .../..."</p>
<p class="p1">The rest of that class is spent listening to Ino explain all the different types of flowers and their meanings until she runs out of plants to talk about, at which point she shifts gears to cover every topic under the sun. Sakura pipes up a few times, generally about chakra theory. Toph stays silent for the most part. She's a firm believer in the obsoleteness of small talk (no matter how much it reminds her of her friends).</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">The next day, Sakura and Ino ask to sit with Hinata, Kiba, and Toph at lunch. Hinata and Kiba are very quick to accept them after Toph explains their eventful first meeting.</p>
<p class="p1">A short while into lunch, the question is asked.</p>
<p class="p1">"So what's up with Toph's eyes? I know she isn't a Hyuuga, but is she a <em>Hyuuga?</em>"</p>
<p class="p1">Toph carefully aligns her eyes with Ino. Don't want to get kicked out 'cause some girl was a bit curious...</p>
<p class="p1">"No?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Why does that sound like a question?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Okay, it's actually really weird. So, to Akamaru and I, she smells like rocks, yeah?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Um... I fail to see the relevance?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Bear with me. So, our first day, we went to check if she has the Byakugan. Hinata, our resident Byakugan expert, decides to check Toph for the Byakugan with her own Byakugan. And you know what she finds?"</p>
<p class="p1">"A Byakugan?" Sakura pipes up.</p>
<p class="p1">"No. Toph's chakra matches the natural chakra found in rocks and raw ore."</p>
<p class="p1">"That's really weird, but it still doesn't answer my question."</p>
<p class="p1">Hinata cuts in quietly (though a good bit louder than she'd been at the beginning of the year), hands discreetly clasped in that odd symbol.</p>
<p class="p1">"Um, Toph doesn't have the Byakugan. I'm just double... I'm just double-checking now... Actually, the pathways... the chakra pathways near her eyes are actually a lot smaller and weaker than that of anybody present, I think."</p>
<p class="p1">"Is that why her eyes are all weird?"</p>
<p class="p1">Don't change the topic, that'll be suspicious (she knows- she dealt with criminals and other shifty characters for a living, after all). Let them get it out of their system, everything will turn out okay.</p>
<p class="p1">"What do- What do you mean her eyes are weird?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Well, in addition to the similarities they have to the Byakugan, the pupils don't track motion or display any of the tics which communicate intentions and emotions. Like, when you lie, your pupil twitches to the left just a tiny bit. But Toph's pupils never twitch."</p>
<p class="p1">Shit. That is not where Toph wants this conversation to go. All of her friends' heart rates have increased- they're excited. Probably because they're one terrifying step closer to finding out her well-kept (in her opinion) secret.</p>
<p class="p1">"Do you have any idea why that might be, Toph?"</p>
<p class="p1">It's Sakura who ends up asking the obvious question. Stupid smart people...</p>
<p class="p1">Forcing herself to remain calm, Toph shrugs as nonchalantly as she can manage.</p>
<p class="p1">"Not a clue. Our previous theory was because I'm civilian-born, but that goes out the window with Sakura as a benchmark. I mean, assuming her eyes are roughly normal?"</p>
<p class="p1">Sakura nods. </p>
<p class="p1">"Yeah, nothing special here. Unless you count the fact that I don't need glasses? But not many ninja do, now I think about it."</p>
<p class="p1">A memory from her past life bobs to the surface of her mind.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">
  <em>The Gaang is all together, tents set up in memory of their time spent together, constantly on the move. The fire is rapidly dying, but none of them have turned in for the night yet. Instead, everybody else is stargazing while Toph listens to their heartbeats as they slow down with content.</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>"I feel so old right now..."</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>She can feel the skepticism from Katara at her brother's statement.</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>"Oh? And why would that be?"<br/></em>
</p>
<p class="p1"><em>"The stars are all blurry... And it's not just them. The trees and such are too. Heck, </em>Suki's <em>blurry! Her hair's all fuzzy, you know?"</em></p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>Suki twitches from her position right next to Sokka. Toph ignores it in favor of curiosity.</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>"Blurry?"</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>"Yeah... I think I need glasses. But that's just the way of things, I guess. At least I wasn't one of those kids who couldn't see six inches past their nose without those nerdy spectacles!"</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>"Strong words coming from the man who used to wear a telescoping monocle whenever he was 'investigating' anything."</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>Sokka squawks with indignance.</em>
</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">It is then that an idea occurs to Toph. An ingenious idea which may solve a good number of her problems all at once.</p>
<p class="p1">"Maybe that's it..."</p>
<p class="p1">All attention is on her again.</p>
<p class="p1">"What's it?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Well, my vision's always been a little blurry? I can see you guys okay, but far away stuff is hard. I probably need glasses, but they'd end up being a weakness in combat anyway."</p>
<p class="p1">The table considers.</p>
<p class="p1">"It doesn't explain why your pupils don't track motion, at least that I can see, but it's out best explanation for now."</p>
<p class="p1">Crisis averted. 'Seeing' is turning out to be a lot more work than Toph anticipated.</p>
<p class="p1">"By the way, did you hear what Kaori found out earlier when she was walking by the teachers' lounge?"</p>
<p class="p1">Heads were shaken in a unanimous negative.</p>
<p class="p1">"Well, apparently, she heard Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei talking about upping the amount of time spent sparring next month."</p>
<p class="p1">Sakura groans.</p>
<p class="p1">"Uhhhhg... Spars are so hard! I'm always down in one hit from our classmates..."</p>
<p class="p1">Toph decides to add her own two <strike>yuan</strike> <em>ryo </em>to the argument.</p>
<p class="p1">"Well, practice makes perfect. Maybe the extra time is what you need to get better."</p>
<p class="p1">"Yeah, but I don't have anybody to practice with outside of class, and inside of class I just get creamed!"</p>
<p class="p1">Ino hums in thought.</p>
<p class="p1">"Hmm... maybe we could start some sort of study group? But for sparring, so we'll all be ready to take the rankings by storm next month when the extra spars start."</p>
<p class="p1">Toph grins.</p>
<p class="p1">"Sounds like my kind of study group. I'm free for about two hours after school- what about you guys?"</p>
<p class="p1">"My mom's fine with just about anything so long as I'm back before dark."</p>
<p class="p1">Ino nods along with Kiba.</p>
<p class="p1">"Yeah, my dad's about the same. Sakura, what about you?"</p>
<p class="p1">"My parents give me a pretty long leash. They're not too worried, what with the Police Force patrols and all."</p>
<p class="p1">Hinata starts tapping her fingers together.</p>
<p class="p1">"My... My father... My father is very strict... strict about my wanderings. There was... There was an attempt to kidnap... to kidnap me a few years ago, for my... for my Byakugan, you see. I think I'll be able to come for the first half-hour or so, though."</p>
<p class="p1">Ino nods decisively.</p>
<p class="p1">"Alright! It's settled then. We can start today!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>1) I don't think any ninja worth their salt would actually encourage the kind of fangirling behavior we see at the beginning of the series. Even if I don't discard the idea out of sheer impracticality, look at Tenten! Tenten obviously wasn't a fangirl, and she went to the same Academy everybody else did. So did Moegi, who I have yet to see fangirling over anybody. The only fangirls we see are from Naruto's year. Why is that? I haven't seen any canon explanation, so I came up with my own. <br/>Enter Aiko-sensei. <br/>She's a solid kunoichi, but also a (relative) newlywed and a new mother. Her husband Makoto is in ANBU Black Ops (which he can't leave for a while because he's been on a couple classified missions and Danzo got a policy passed about not leaving Anbu until a certain number of years after your last A-rank for infosec or something, and it hasn't been long enough for Makoto yet) so he can't be around often. As a result, Aiko has to handle the baby almost all the time. This gives her students at the time the false impression that it's the wife's job to retire/stay in village and have kids after they get married, when that really isn't the case. If Aiko was the one in ANBU, it would totally be Makoto who took a cushy teaching job so the baby would be guaranteed at least one parent, would always be taken care of, and neither of the newlyweds would have to completely give up their ninjahood. But that isn't how the cards happened to fall, so the girls' only example of a strong adult kunoichi is the one who took a cushy job to have a kid. This leads to the assumption that a kunoichi's main job is to get a good, strong, caring (as Aiko describes Makoto) husband and have some kids. Thus, they go very far to get whoever the 'best future husband' appears to be, and Sasuke gets a fanclub.<br/>2) I'm trying not to make Toph too overpowered, but the gal has a century of badass fighter-ing behind her, even if she's not quite as physically able as she was in her last life. No six year old, not even a clan-trained one, is going to be getting the drop on her, bending or no. Unless, of course, they chuck a shuriken at her (which they aren't allowed to do yet).<br/>3) I’ve seen some concerns over Danzo getting his hooks into Toph. I don’t think this is going to happen for a couple reasons. First, let’s look at what we know about Danzo. He’s been running an organization of kidnapped children- some of whom are directly adjacent to their main families- since before the third war. And he’s kept it classified enough that not even most Jonin know about it. The guy sucks at just about everything to do with running a village successfully, but he’s a master of covert ops. Next, let’s look at Toph from his perspective. She’s good in the spars, but is still taking a reasonable amount of time to learn new katas and such (since she doesn’t have previous experience with the Academy style). Her skills with thrown kunai are pretty good, but her shurikenjutsu is nothing short of atrocious. This might be a bit odd, because I kinda think shuriken would be the easier weapon to throw, but everybody has that one thing they just can’t figure out. It may even give an impression of incompetence or dislike of putting effort into training. Then there’s academics, where she’s about average. He’d certainly be interested in the rumors about her being an illegitimate Hyuuga, but the ROOT agents who are totally watching the Academy would’ve heard Hinata explaining all the reasons she doesn’t have the Byakugan. And of course, Danzo is above moving heaven and earth for nothing more than rumors (at least, he thinks he is). All in all, she seems like nothing but another civvie kid, though probably one with some experience in street fights or some such. He’d probably think Toph would be outpaced pretty fast once the clan kids started getting some experience. He might still go for her, just to get another soldier on the lines. But what’s the first thing she does? Become gossip for every bored desk-nin in Konoha. And after that? She becomes friends with the Hyuuga heiress and the Inuzuka spare. There’s no way Danzo is going to risk drawing the attention of Konoha’s bureaucracy and two major clans, one of which is a noble Dojutsu holder, all at once. There’s plenty of orphans on the street to satisfy all his warmongering desires without getting himself executed for it in the process.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Air Is Not Water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sparring time!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>To my fellow Americans, happy (late) Thanksgiving!<br/>Fair warning for all of you guys, this chapter has some very loosely implied drunkenness in one of the flashbacks, so if that's not your cup of tea you'll need to skip the italicized sections. Also some mention of self-deprecating thoughts, so if you have trouble with that kind of stuff you'll need to skip from 'Hinata, you alright?' to 'Hinata nods and pushes herself up.' It's your basic inspirational and bonding speech between the lines, so don't worry about having to skip it.<br/>Onto happier topics, I managed to crank out another chapter! It's been forever, I know, but this chapter's a smidge longer than usual to make up for it.<br/>In other news, history is committed to either making my life hell, or dying in the attempt.<br/>But, that's not why you guys are here! You're here to see Toph Beifong flipping Naruto canon the middle finger and smirking while she does it, so:</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Once the bell rings to signify the end of school, Ino promptly collects Toph (along with Hinata, Kiba, and Sakura) and drags her to a wide clearing in the woods behind the Academy.</p><p class="p1">"Alright! Let's get sparring!" Ino declares. Toph is suddenly reminded of Ty Lee, but tamps down that impulse before it has a chance to grow. She can make new friends, but it's not fair in the slightest to replace her old ones.</p><p class="p1">"Ah... what are the rules?"</p><p class="p1">"Well, we don't have a medic or anything here, so we shouldn't do any weapons, right? And I don't think any of us know any combat ninjutsu yet... So we should probably do taijutsu-only. That's how the Academy spars we're practicing for are run anyway, right?"</p><p class="p1">Sakura's tone is hesitant, and she's holding herself with her hands clasped and posture meek. Ino shifts into a nod and Sakura straightens up instantly. The girl puts a lot of stock in Ino's opinion... But is it too much? Or a healthy amount?</p><p class="p1">Toph hopes it's the latter.</p><p class="p1">"That sounds good. So, how are we going to pick our opponents? In class, Iruka-sensei always assigns us, but he's not here now, so..."</p><p class="p1">Kiba cuts in over Ino.</p><p class="p1">"Hinata should go first. Since she has to leave early and such."</p><p class="p1">This causes Hinata's heart to speed up rapidly, like a deer caught in the headlights of a Satomobile. Doesn't like sparring much then? Or worried about her options in opponent? Well, the second one's an easy fix, so...</p><p class="p1">"Go ahead and pick your opponent, Hinata."</p><p class="p1">That... didn't seem to help. Shit. When did friend-ing get so complicated? In her day, friendship was hijacking airships and sharing stupid jokes about tea or whatever the universe had most recently done to screw with Sokka.</p><p class="p1">...She sounds ancient, doesn't she?</p><p class="p1">"Uh, um, ah, I'll... I'll spar Sakura. She is why we're... why we're here, correct?"</p><p class="p1">Sakura straightens even further and gives Hinata a thumbs-up (and maybe a grin), which in turn causes Hinata's heartbeat to slow a bit, her posture to lengthen upwards, and her fingers to stop tapping. Toph grins to all of them. It seems her worries are unwarranted (the only time Toph likes being wrong).</p><p class="p1">Ino pulls out a blunt practice kunai and sketches out a sparring ring.</p><p class="p1">"Alright, you guys can spar, and afterwards the rest of us will give tips! Winner faces me, okay?”</p><p class="p1">Sakura and Hinata nod and step into the sparring ring. Toph directs her full attention to the earth, ready to analyze and correct the fight (she was a teacher, once).</p><p class="p1">They fall into their stances. Hinata is in position first, in a stance somewhat reminiscent of water bending. Sakura takes a bit longer to get into her more balanced Academy stance, she’s probably going to pay for that… No, Hinata waits until Sakura is ready.</p><p class="p1">Sakura ends up taking the first move,a high roundhouse kick… She shouldn’t be using such a dicey move right off the bat, especially if she’s as bad in spars as she claims. If Toph's correct about Hinata's style being similar to waterbending, Sakura's about to get flipped and/or flung around.</p><p class="p1">Instead of grabbing and re-directing the almost painfully weak roundhouse, Hinata blocks it with a bit of a flinch. Maybe Toph misdiagnosed Hinata's fighting style?</p><p class="p1">Elemental inclination notwithstanding, Hinata could probably have stood to dodge that. She doesn't seem to have the constitution to just keep taking hits, even weak ones.</p><p class="p1">Well, it won't matter in a moment- this will be a pretty easy win for Hinata. Sakura sacrificed every last phantasm of her guard with that kick. Toph starts work on phrasing her critiques in such a way so as not to cause any tears to be shed (this had been a bit of a problem when she was training police cadets...).</p><p class="p1">To Toph's complete and utter shock, Hinata is on the ground twenty seconds later, after twitching every time an opening presented itself and thus missing said openings. It was worse than Aang got when he was fighting somebody he didn't want to hurt...</p><p class="p1">Didn't want to hurt...</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Oh.</em>
</p><p class="p1">Hinata didn't want to hurt Sakura, did she?</p><p class="p1">The question is, how to show Hinata that it's okay to train. As somebody who was practically raised in the Earth Rumble arena, Toph has never struggled with working up the nerve to hit somebody like Aang, and sometimes Katara or Zuko had.</p><p class="p1">But. She was friends with Aang for over eighty years. She was his earthbending sifu, for spirits' sakes. So the question becomes: how did she show Aang it's okay to train?</p><p class="p1">Let's see... Twinkletoes was an airbender. They heavily emphasize non-aggression, even in a fight. Aang had needed the push of 'it's your duty to save the world by killing a guy' coupled with, 'these assholes killed everybody you hold dear' to get him past that, and even then he'd found a nonviolent option. But Hinata is not the Avatar, so maybe...</p><p class="p1">"Hinata. You're fighting wrong."</p><p class="p1">If previous blunt comments made Hinata twitch, this one gives her a complete convulsion. Toph might have been able to word that better...</p><p class="p1">"You're trying to fight like water, but you're not actually water. More like air, I'd say. So you're trying to make air into water, but that's never going to work right because air just isn't water. You need to focus on fighting like air, so you're not fighting yourself in addition to your actual opponent."</p><p class="p1">Hinata doesn't twitch this time. Toph counts that as a win.</p><p class="p1">"Fight... like air?"</p><p class="p1">Toph nods.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah. Air is freedom... It's very reactive, not very aggressive, and... serene? I guess, is the best word for it. It's a way better fit for you than water."</p><p class="p1">Hinata stands up a tiny bit straighter when Toph mentions non-aggression. Yeah, Toph made the right call here.</p><p class="p1">"But... how does one fight like... like air?"</p><p class="p1">"Right, uh... You know how when it's really, really windy, you'll put your hands up and you can feel the wind bouncing off of your palms? And sometimes, during storms, the wind will get really fast and start spinning in circles and that's a tornado? You have to bounce away from attacks, but in circles like the tornado. Spiral movements and all that."</p><p class="p1">Ino's (kinda whiny...) voice cuts in.</p><p class="p1">"That doesn't make any sense! How are you supposed to bounce off a punch?"</p><p class="p1">Toph winces.</p><p class="p1">"I'm not doing a very good job explaining it... Look, I'll set some stuff up tomorrow. It's the kind of thing that's easier to learn by doing than by listening to whatever explanation I can scrape together."</p><p class="p1">The group accepts this with due skepticism, but it's accepted nonetheless. Toph corrects Sakura's (many) mistakes throughout the spars they have that day. She also takes the opportunity to have some fun of her own. She hasn't been doing much fighting beyond the Academy sparring ring, and it's grating on her.</p><p class="p1">After Toph has finished beating everybody in spars, she waits for them to leave a short ways away from the clearing. Once they've all been outside of her passive range for at least five minutes, Toph returns to their impromptu sparring ring.</p><p class="p1">Toph takes a deep breath and starts combing through her memories of Aang for methods of teaching airbending.</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <em>"You guys... You don't get it!"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>The world spins around Toph until Aang's weirdly wavy vibrational signature is in front of her. Or maybe it's Toph that's spinning.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"I have to be the leaf... All the time! I'm a leaf, guys! A leaf!"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"It must've been, hic, very hard, to defeat, hic, my dad, y'know, Fire Lord Asshole?"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Sokka nods sagely and takes a sip from his cup.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"It must've been very hard to defeat him, HIC, as a leaf. Leaves burn, you know? My uncle told me that... Did you know leaves are so burnable, you can burn them with water?"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Katara gasps from across the table.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"I burn leaves!?!?"</em>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">Toph's memories go all fuzzy for a bit after that.</p><hr/><p class="p1">
  <em>The next thing Toph knows, she's in Air Temple Island's courtyard, in front a contraption composed of a lot of spinning screens.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"I need a leaf, guys..."</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Sokka meanders over to a tree and plucks off a leaf.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"This one work for ya buddy?"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Aang nods and takes the leaf. He goes up to the spinning gates, then lets go of the leaf.</em>
</p><p class="p1"><em>"See how the leaf twists and turns around the gates? I have to do that </em>all the time!<em>"</em></p><p class="p1">
  <em>Zuko staggers to his feet.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"Well, we're here with you now, so you won't have to be the leaf alone. I'll be the best leaf ever. I'll be such a good leaf, you won't even realize I'm a fire-person! But you'll know, and you'll be happy, because I'm helping."</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"Zuko... that means so much to me." Aang sobs. Katara declares her willingness to be a leaf too, and Toph adds her support because she needs some spontaneity in her life. Being a leaf should bring her plenty of excitement. Then, a group hug is declared and Toph has to hug back because that's polite. But she's not supposed to be polite, she's Toph Beifong!</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Toph is in the midst of extracting herself from the middle of the hug when Zuko breaks away.</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"I swear on my honor, I'll get through this thing and be the best Leaf Lord since that guy... you know, the crazy earthbender king?"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"Bumi?"</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>"Yeah, that guy."</em>
</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Zuko enters the spinning gates and proceeds to bump into every. Single. One.</em>
</p><hr/><p class="p1">Toph has a plan.</p><p class="p1">She breathes and slips down into her horse stance. She listens...</p><p class="p1">Wait...</p><p class="p1">Wait...</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Up.</em>
</p><p class="p1">Gates made of earth rise up and compact themselves until they can stay together without her intervention. A quick stomp of her foot has them spinning at a quick-but-not-impossible pace. She stomps again and they're still as statues. Perfect.</p><hr/><p class="p1">The next day, it's Toph, not Ino, who rounds up their group of friends and drags them out to the forest for training.</p><p class="p1">"What in the-?"</p><p class="p1">"Alright lily-livers, I'm about to show you how to be a leaf."</p><p class="p1">"Lily-livers?" Kiba questions.</p><p class="p1">"Be a leaf?" Sakura mumbles under her breath.</p><p class="p1">Toph marches over to a bush and grabs a small leaf off one of the larger branches. Everybody is facing the gates, so...</p><p class="p1">
  <em>Stomp!</em>
</p><p class="p1">The gates start spinning, and her friends gasp simultaneously. Toph makes her way over to the gates, holds the leaf as near as she dares, and lets go. Hopefully, she held the leaf close enough for the air to pick it up. If not... well...</p><p class="p1">"You guys see how the leaf spins through the gates without touching them? That's what it's supposed to be like for air."</p><p class="p1">"You... You're saying... You mean, this is supposed to help me fight like air, instead of water? Like you were... Like you were saying yesterday?"</p><p class="p1">Toph nods.</p><p class="p1">"Yup. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be for like, dodging and stuff. Spin around the attack, instead of blocking or redirecting it."</p><p class="p1">"Pretty sure?"</p><p class="p1">Ino's skeptical tone is, as much as Toph hates to admit it, well-deserved.</p><p class="p1">"Yeah... I know a bit about air, but not that much, 'cause I'm not actually air. I'm earth, which is the opposite of air."</p><p class="p1">Kiba and Sakura respond at the same time.</p><p class="p1">"Is that why you smell like a rock?"   "If you're earth, and Hinata's air, what are the rest of us?"</p><p class="p1">"No clue on the rock bit, but I'm pretty sure Kiba and Ino would be fire. For you Sakura... I'm actually not sure. I can see you going all directions, but I've only known you for a little while, so..."</p><p class="p1">Sakura wilts a little bit at that. Dammit... She'll deal with Sakura once she gets Hinata sorted.</p><p class="p1">"So, from what I noticed yesterday, Hinata, you don't like hurting people." Hinata twitches and curls in on herself. That does not seem like a good sign... "Which means any style with even the barest hint of aggression is going to be a pretty bad fit. However, it also means that air is going to work really well for you." Hinata stands up a little straighter and rolls her shoulders back. Okay, Toph's got this, just maintain course... </p><p class="p1">"It emphasizes dodging and nonaggression. The basis of air is spiral movements, like the wind itself. What you're going to try to do is move with the air currents to maneuver your way through, like the leaf does. You get all that?"</p><p class="p1">Hinata nods and shakily sets her stance.</p><p class="p1">"Give it a go, then."</p><p class="p1">Hinata takes a few minutes to steel her nerves, then leaps into the gates. She clears the first one just fine. The second one gets close, but Hinata manages to get clear by the skin of her teeth. Then, she attempts the third gate. It does not go well. She slams into it, bringing it to a jittery halt, and ricochets into another gate. Toph can feel the rest of her friends wincing as she stops all the gates.</p><p class="p1">"Hinata, you alright?"</p><p class="p1">Hinata slips out of the gates and shrinks down into herself under the scrutiny of her friends.</p><p class="p1">"I... I'm... I am uninjured. Forgive me. It... It seems... It seems I'm not quite... not quite cut out for air."</p><p class="p1">"What do you mean?"</p><p class="p1">Hinata winces and shrinks further into herself.</p><p class="p1">"I barely... I barely made it past two of the... two of the gates. I'm obviously not... I'm obviously not as suited for air as you previously... as you previously believed."</p><p class="p1">Toph's mouth thins into a line. Normally when she had a cadet with this level of self-esteem (that is to say, none at all), she'd get Aang to come straighten them out. But... Aang is probably off doing his Avatar spirit thing with that new girl, Korra, so for now Toph will have to suffice.</p><p class="p1">"Well, first off, I'd say you made it past three. And second, that's actually pretty good for a first attempt. If I tried, I doubt I'd make it half as far as you did. Third, I don't know who made you think you have to be perfect the first time through, but they're dead wrong. The only way to master anything is to make a slew of mistakes, so you can learn from them."</p><p class="p1">"You're a smart girl Hinata. Every time you bump into a gate, you're just figuring out how to go further. So cut the modesty crap, because I know for a fact you're both smarter, and stronger than you seem to believe."</p><p class="p1">Hinata's entire posture radiated shock. Shit, did she say something wrong?</p><p class="p1">"You really... You really think so?"</p><p class="p1">"Wouldn't have said it if I didn't?"</p><p class="p1">It comes out as a question on account of Toph's own confusion. Why would she lie about a compliment? She doesn't dole them out often, but when she does, they're genuine (none of the strategic, political comments her parents used to live and breathe... that they wanted <em>her </em>to live and breathe...).</p><p class="p1">All of the sudden, Hinata is on her knees and sobbing and bawling about how nobody had ever believed in her before and how Toph is such a good friend and she doesn't deserve her and Toph is just standing here, frozen, because Hinata's crying <em>what happened <strike>what did she do wrong this time</strike></em>.</p><p class="p1">Fortunately for Toph, Sakura is a lot smarter than she is.</p><p class="p1">In the space of a few moments Sakura is on the ground next to Hinata. Sakura is hugging the crying girl now, and talking to her.</p><p class="p1">"Hinata... You're pretty, and you're smart, and you're strong, and you're patient, and calm, and a dozen other great things. I know it's hard to believe right now. I... used to have trouble believing it too. Until recently, I had to have someone else believe for me. Which is why, until you can believe it for yourself, I- and everybody else in this clearing- is going to believe it for you, okay?"</p><p class="p1">"I'm really bad with the Gentle Fist. I'm so bad, my little sister beats me regularly! You don't have to pretend... You'll all do better without me holding you back..."</p><p class="p1">Suddenly, Toph is reminded of a kid who knelt on his knees to ask forgiveness from his enemies, because his allies- his <em>family</em>- didn't care to give it.</p><p class="p1">Toph sits down next to Hinata.</p><p class="p1">"In this world, there are two kinds of people. There's the people born with talent-" Hinata flinches and curls inwards. A familiar opening?</p><p class="p1">"-and the people who have to work for it. Those who have to work for it will struggle every inch of the way to reach the point those born with talent get to without any thought. But... when things get difficult, it's the people who've struggled who buck up and throw every last piece of themselves into getting through the tough times. Your sister might be better in a fight, Hinata, but when I'm surrounded and backed up against a wall, it's you who I'd want by my side."</p><p class="p1">Hinata's face tilts up towards Toph. The heiress destined to struggle hiccups.</p><p class="p1">"I... I don't want to struggle alone. Promise you'll struggle with me?"</p><p class="p1">Toph's lips quirk upwards.</p><p class="p1">"Every inch of the way."</p><p class="p1">Hinata nods and pushes herself up.</p><p class="p1">"Spin the gates."</p><p class="p1">Hinata walks up and gets into a ready position. Sakura slips up and joins her. Hinata's expression must have been questioning, because Sakura speaks just loud enough for her (and Toph) to hear.</p><p class="p1">"You didn't think I'd let you do this alone, did you?"</p><p class="p1">Hinata doesn't say anything. Toph stomps, and the gates start spinning. At some unspoken signal, both of the girls dart forward into the labyrinth of moving panels. Neither of them make it any farther than Hinata did last time, but there's a determination there that didn't exist before.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And that's a wrap! Next chapter... well, I don't want to spoil, but let it be known that you'll be seeing a lot more of Hinata.<br/>Let me know what you think in the comments! I tried to dabble in foreshadowing, though given my complete lack of a plan, I don't think I was very successful... I was super worried I'd end up changing something later and ended up being super vague, just in case.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. But It Flows All The Same (Interlude- Hinata)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is basically me dumping all my Hinata feels into one chapter...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey y'all! In a shocking turn of events, I've managed a relatively quick update. I had a slew of Hinata feels left over from last chapter, and homework was almost nonexistent this weekend because of Thanksgiving, so this interlude just about wrote itself...<br/>Anyway, here's what I've got for you:</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hinata was not born talented.</p><p>She can't beat her older sibling in a fight, or see chakra in the most detail since the legendary Hyuuga Kana (she's not blind, she knows what her cousin does when he thinks nobody's around to see). She can't fend off bullies, or memorize facts in class after hearing them just once, or come out of a schoolyard brawl against superior numbers with nothing but a few bruises and a cocky grin.</p><p>For a long time, Hinata believed it was just... how she was destined to be. The little girl without the temperament to be a kunoichi; swept under the rug by all who know her out of embarrassment. Even with her friends, she figured it was just a matter of time until they realized that she's... not special. A child destined to fade into the background. Maybe end up in a political marriage- a pretty trinket, but nothing more.</p><p>When she saw the spinning gates for the first time, she thought that maybe, <em>maybe</em>, she'd finally be good at something. Perhaps not enough to be a proper Hyuuga... but enough to keep her friends, at least.</p><p>Then she slams into the gate, and she's sobbing- ugly, wracking sobs her father would send her to her room for because Hyuuga don't cry <em>heiresses don't cry <strike>you're embarrassing us all Hinata</strike>.</em></p><p>It's over, isn't it? Toph is trying to be nice about it, but it's the end. She'll never quietly cheer on Kiba from the sidelines of a brawl, or help Ino figure out that mystery, or grin with Sakura over a correct answer again.</p><p>But... It's not over. Because, to Hinata's shock, she's special. In a very different manner than usual, but special.</p><p>Why? Because she can <em>struggle</em>.</p><p>It makes so much sense, when Toph points it out. She doesn't have talent, or luck, or any particular charisma. But if she keeps going, keeps fighting, keeps struggling, she'll be a world-shaker someday (Toph sounds far too sure of herself for what she says to be anything but true).</p><p>All of the sudden, she remembers the story of the Legendary Sannin- the world-shakers- and, more relevantly, their split. She doesn't want to be a world-shaker alone.</p><p>"Struggle with me?"</p><p>But, it wouldn't be so bad to be a world-shaker with her friends.</p><p>So, Hinata will buck up and keep going, no matter how tough the going gets. Because that's what makes her special, and there's no way she'll give that up.</p><p>She knows she doesn't <em>have </em>to struggle for her friends (Sakura makes sure she knows that), but... she wants to. So one day, when things get difficult, and they're surrounded and backed up against a wall, she can be there for them the way they've been there for her.</p><p>Hinata tries the spinning gates three times every day (she'd do more, but her friends wanted time for actually sparring). She's not improved much, but she's gotten just the tiniest bit better. Toph says it'll just click for her one day. Hinata doesn't know when that day will be, but she knows she'll be ready when it comes.</p><p>For a while, all is about as perfect as can be expected. It's just her, her friends, and her newfound confidence. She grows very close to Sakura. The girl is always there to support her when she starts to wonder if it's really worth it to keep struggling.</p><p>Sakura never explicitly tells her to keep going. Just that she's here for her, whatever Hinata decides to do. It's always that support, that unconditional friendship, which makes her want to struggle all over again.</p><p>Hinata knows it goes for the rest of her friends too, but it's always Sakura who tells her that. So, it's Sakura she first tells when her date of execution is set.</p><p>"There's... There's to be a... There's to be a challenge, for the... the heirship. Myself against my younger... against my younger sister, Hanabi. I-" her voice cracks as she cries. "I can't hurt my sister. I can barely bring myself to touch her in a spar, and that's not even considering the skill difference."</p><p>Sakura is hugging Hinata tightly, like her kaa-san used to.</p><p>"It's going to be okay. We'll figure something out, okay? You, me, and all our friends."</p><p>Hinata purses her lips.</p><p>"Struggle with me?"</p><p>Sakura hugs her tighter and gives the rehearsed reply.</p><p>"Promise."</p><hr/><p>They announce the upcoming challenge the next day, at their sparring practice. Everybody else has the expected reaction of shock and horror... except Toph.</p><p>"You want to be the heiress?"</p><p>"Of course!"</p><p>Hinata answers on autopilot. What else would she be?</p><p>But... does she? Has she ever once thought, 'I want to be the Hyuuga heiress'? Or has she just resigned herself to it? Compared to her sister, a prodigy who, if she interprets the Elders' mumbling correctly, may one day rival Uchiha Itachi. Her sister, who is always talking about making the clan better, not because it's her duty to talk about it, but because she's genuinely passionate about the subject.</p><p>The question haunts her the rest of the day.</p><hr/><p>She has a week to prepare for the challenge- a week until the school year ends. Funny, how it's scheduled just so it'll take the longest amount of time for the Academy students to realize how inadequate she is.</p><p>Hinata breathes. She may be swept under the rug, but she'll struggle the whole way there.</p><p>Her friends are there for her. They spend every sparring practice doing everything they can to get her up to snuff. Hinata pushes as hard as she can, but she knows it won't be enough. Not to keep the heirship.</p><hr/><p>The day of the challenge is deceptively routine. They write, they study, they fight, they play.</p><p>At the end of the day, Iruka-sensei congratulates them on completing their first year at the Academy. Hinata smiles, but she feels sick inside. End of school means end of sparring practice means end of friends. She can't face her clan alone...</p><p>(And when did the clan become something she needs to face?)</p><p>Her friends all come to wish her good luck after school. They make her promise to tell them everything tomorrow, at sparring practice, which they apparently intend to continue through the summer. Hinata is so happy to have such good friends.</p><p>Sakura stays behind, after the rest of their group has left for home.</p><p>"We're with you Hinata. Win or lose."</p><p>Hinata smiles, shakily, and nods.</p><p>"Thank you, Sakura."</p><hr/><p>Hinata holds herself up with all the dignity she can muster as she enters the Hyuuga compound. She's directed to a room in which to change into the traditional battle challenge attire. The motions are familiar, from her time being tutored.</p><p>Usually, she quite enjoys donning traditional attire. It makes her feel... right, like she's supposed to be there, with all the special, talented people that make up her clan. Now it just feels like chains wrapping around her.</p><p>Hinata steps forth into the courtyard. The entire clan is gathered as witnesses. She will not let them see her falter.</p><p>Her imouto, her little sister, steps out across from her.</p><p>It's in that moment, that she knows.</p><p>
  <em>I'm going to lose.</em>
</p><p>Hanabi is relaxed, confident, and happy. She's giving a young branch member a tip on their stance. Her eyes light upon Hinata and she looks sad, for a moment, before it's replaced by a grim determination. A willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals. Hanabi will win this fight.</p><p>
  <em>But... I'm okay with that.</em>
</p><p>Hanabi is sweet, and kind, and determined, and strong, and so very smart. She'll lead the Hyuuga clan to greatness in an easy, effortless way Hinata will never be able to manage. And that's okay. While Hanabi guides their clan onward, Hinata will stay back, with her friends. A backup, a spare, nothing more than an extra.</p><p>She'll be plain, simple, regular... But she'll make sure that everybody knows Hanabi is <em>extraordinary</em>.</p><p>Hanabi will win this fight, and Hinata is okay with that.</p><p>Stances are taken, and the start is called. Hanabi's palm is rushing towards her so fast Hinata can hear wind whistling past it.</p><p>And then, it clicks.</p><p>Hinata whistles under her sister's strike with the air currents, like a leaf in the wind. She's behind Hanabi now. She prepares to strike, but she hesitates just a moment too long and Hanabi whirls around to block with time to spare. Hinata smiles. Her sister is truly exceptional.</p><p>Another palm is directed towards her, but she slips away with the wind again.</p><p>It continues like that for a while. Neither girl manages to land a hit, Hinata out of hesitance and Hanabi due to Hinata's newfound dodging ability. Then, Hanabi must've found some sort of pattern, because she lands a hit. Nothing fatal, just on her elbow, but enough for Hinata to know the fight is over.</p><p>Hinata is immobilized ten seconds later.</p><hr/><p>After all the necessary pomp and circumstance is carried out, Hinata makes her way to Hanabi's room.</p><p>"Hanabi-sama?"</p><p>It's weird to be calling her sister 'sama,' but she is the heiress now...</p><p>The door slides open. Hanabi looks quite shocked to see her.</p><p>"I came to congratulate you on your victory." She smiles, open and genuine. "You'll make a good Clan Head."</p><p>Hanabi doesn't speak for a few moments, likely taken off guard. But, she recovers quickly- a trait she'll likely need.</p><p>"You can't be the heiress..."</p><p>The firm confidence with which she murmurs Hinata's incompetence makes her wince, just slightly.</p><p>
  <em>"...so I'll do it for you."</em>
</p><p>It's Hinata's turn to be taken off guard. Suddenly, the grim determination she witnessed earlier takes on an entirely different meaning. Hanabi wasn't fighting for the clan. She was fighting for Hinata.</p><p>She rushes forward and pulls her sibling into a hug.</p><p>"Imouto... Thank you."</p><p>Hanabi hugs back. Hinata feels her nodding into her shoulder.</p><p>"If it's ever too much... If things get hard, and you struggle... Tell me. I'll struggle with you."</p><p>Silent tears slip down Hanabi's face and onto Hinata's shoulder.</p><p>"I wanted to be kind, like you are... But leaders can't be kind."</p><p>"No, Hanabi... You can always be kind. Leaders just have to go about it a different way. I'm too set in my ways to be a kind leader, but... you'll be great at it. Better than any who came before you."</p><p>"I'll be kind, then. Not like you would be... But like a leader can."</p><p>That night, Hanabi sleeps over in Hinata's room.</p><hr/><p>It doesn't dawn on Hinata until the next day that air... clicked for her. She did it. She struggled, and she kept struggling, and she finally made it work and this is the proudest she's ever been of herself because <em>she made </em><em>it click.</em></p><p>She knows that air is swirling freedom and you just have to slip away from everything else and you'll float along with it, twirling, whirling through whatever obstacles come up and it doesn't need to cut or crush or break or twist or burn anything to get its way because you can just spin around and past.</p><p>When her friends ask her how 'it' went, it takes her a minute to remember the challenge with Hanabi.</p><p>"Oh, I lost, but I figured out air!"</p><p>Her friends seem unsure of whether to congratulate her or console her. Hinata is unsure as to why she would need consoling.</p><p>"It was during the challenge, and I just kinda realized you have to let go of everything and... be a breeze? I guess?"</p><p>Her friends all look very confused, except for Toph, who simply grins.</p><p>"Alright Breezy, let's see how you hold up in the gates this time around, yeah?"</p><p>The gates start spinning, and, against the counsel of every single Hyuuga instructor she's met, Hinata lets her eyes slide shut. Then, she drifts. The gates are spinning, and she's spinning with them. It's almost effortless. She's slipping away on the air currents...</p><p>Before she knows it, she's spinning out of the gates on the other side. Kiba whistles in congratulations. Ino cheers, and Sakura grins.</p><p>"Awesome!" "Nice going Hinata!"</p><p>Hinata can feel her cheeks heating up.</p><p>"I didn't do much..."</p><p>"You did a lot." Sakura interrupts. "You made it all the way through a set of gates spinning way too fast, <em>Toph,</em> and you struggled for almost a year to do it without ever slowing down or giving up. None of the rest of us can make it past more than four gates, and that's just us figuring out the routine of it. You deserve the praise."</p><p>Hinata blushes harder, but pushes through her embarrassment to respond.</p><p>"Thanks, Sakura..."</p><p>Sakura smiles.</p><p>"Now that the mushy stuff is over, let's see how you do in a spar, eh Hinata?" Kiba challenges.</p><p>Hinata sets her jaw and nods.</p><p>"Alright."</p><p>They shuffle over to the circle Ino had sketched out so long ago. It hadn't moved since they first began their sparring group. Over the months they'd been practicing, the ground had been tamped smooth with continued use.</p><p>Usually, Hinata is one of the worst in spars. It was rare that she got a chance to go up against Kiba or Toph, on account of the sheer difference in skill she needed to make up if she wanted to stand a chance. But now? Kiba's punches are hard, but that doesn't matter if they don't make contact.</p><p>Kiba puts his all into the attack, but Hinata just slips away and past it. She almost loses her sense of time as they fight. Every once in a while she'll take a glancing blow, but nothing big enough to slow her down or win Kiba the match. She circles around, lazy and slow as the breeze on a muggy summer day, and shuts off the tenketsu in his right shoulder as gently as is possible when using Jyuuken. Hinata slips backward to give him some space.</p><p>"Yield?"</p><p>Kiba nods.</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>Hinata rises out of a stance she didn't quite realize she'd entered. She makes her way over to unblock his tenketsu as he fixes his balance to account for a limp arm.</p><p>"You're like, impossible to hit now. Starting to wish I was air too!" Kiba chuckles to himself.</p><p>"Well, I'm sure you could learn if you truly wanted to..."</p><p>"Toph said I'm fire though, right? Besides, don't want to steal your thunder. Some things are just too awesome for everybody to have."</p><p>Ino jumps into the conversation.</p><p>"If air needs gates to practice, how do we practice fire? Toph?"</p><p>Toph looks contemplative for a few moments.</p><p>"Fire is kinda tricky... It's like, passion? And sometimes that comes out very aggressive, so you need to be very careful about how you use that passion... Because just as fire is passion, passion is fire, and fire has the ability both to sustain life, like the sun from which it comes, and destroy it like a raging forest fire."</p><p>Toph's expression doesn't change for a few moments. They all wait to see what conclusion she comes to. Until Ino loses patience, that is.</p><p>"So? How do we practice?"</p><p>"Well, if you want to learn... Let's see..."</p><p>Suddenly, Toph snaps her fingers.</p><p>"Alright, come on over here-"</p><p>Toph drags Ino over to a patch of grass where the sun is shining down particularly brightly.</p><p>"Sit."</p><p>"On the ground!? In these pants!?"</p><p>Toph does not look amused.</p><p>"Apologies <em>princess</em>, I thought you wanted to learn fire."</p><p>Ino glares, but bites her lip and sits down.</p><p>"Okay, what next?"</p><p>"You're going to shut your eyes and think for a bit- particularly about the feel of the sunlight as it hits your skin, and whatever you're most passionate about."</p><p>"Hang on, I'm <em>meditating!?</em>"</p><p>Toph nods.</p><p>"This had better be worth it..." Ino grumbles.</p><p>"That's up to you to decide. Kiba, if you want to join in, you're welcome to."</p><p>Hinata smiles as Kiba scampers over to sit next to Ino. She hopes her friends find just as much joy in learning their element as she has.</p><p>"And now for you, Hinata."</p><p>"Me?" She squeaks.</p><p>"Yes, you. You started slowing down about halfway through that fight with Kiba, and it wasn't even a particularly long fight. We need to get your stamina up. Also, your kept your weight either balanced or on your heels the whole time. You'll want to keep it in either the balls of your feet or your toes as often as you can. You're going to practice doing that while running the gates as many times consecutively as you can manage."</p><p>Hinata nods along with Toph's explanation. That makes sense. If she wants to get through fights without hurting anybody, she'll be very reliant on wearing down her opponent- something she won't be able to do without nigh on inhuman stamina, when ninja are involved. Unless, of course, she somehow magically learns a technique to defeat an opponent without injuring them.</p><p>Doesn't seem likely. But, Hinata can figure that out later. For now, she has some gates to dodge!</p><p>Hinata leans forward onto her toes and darts into the gates. She's pleasantly surprised to find it's even easier to navigate them this way.</p><p>She's already on her second run when she hears Sakura meekly questioning Toph.</p><p>"What should I do?"</p><p>"I guess you can either keep working on the gates with Hinata like you usually do, or you can spar with me if you like."</p><p>"...I'll do the gates. Gotta stick with it!"</p><p>Toph nods and Sakura makes her way over to join Hinata. For some reason, Hinata can't shake the feeling that something is off in the world of her best friend.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Jeez, that thing dragged on forever!<br/>I think Hanabi is supposed five years younger than Hinata, but for this she's going to be only 3 years younger (Hinata is seven [7] and a half right now, so Hanabi is four and three months)<br/>Furthermore, I have her noted as a prodigy to rival Itachi. I saw the headcannon somewhere (I don't remember where) and it made a slew of sense, so I decided to implement it here. It's really the best explanation for Hanabi defeating Hinata, which had to happen because I couldn't find a way for Hinata to both unlock air and be the heiress. The whole basis of air is freedom, particularly from earthly attachments. If a crush counts as an attachment, holding the title and duties of heiress to a noble clan can't be anything short of an anchor. And last time I checked, anchors don't fly. (I feel like I'm about to have a Sokka moment right now...)<br/>Of course, Hanabi will still be graduating and such at the usual age. The Hyuuga won't be risking another Itachi incident... (Yay mental health!)<br/>Anyway, take care of yourselves, leave a comment, have a nice day, all that fluffy stuff. I'll see you guys in a few weeks! (Or possibly months... Just kidding!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heeeyyyyy guys... It's been a while, huh? *hides behind chair in shame*<br/>In all seriousness, I'm really sorry it took me so long to update. I wrote about half a chapter over Christmas, then left it until my birthday, which was a few weeks ago, when I realized it was horrible and decided to scrap most of it, so I basically had to completely rewrite the chapter. Good news is that I have a plan for the next few chapters and a spring break coming up, so theoretically I should be able to update quicker?<br/>...I feel like I just jinxed it.<br/>All that said, please enjoy this chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Toph's summer is going well.</p><p>She spends most days with her friends. Mornings are dedicated to sparring and keeping up the skills they learned in the Academy (Her friends continue to be astounded by just how awful she is with shuriken), as well as keeping up with whatever elemental practice Toph manages to scrape together. </p><p>Toph has started Hinata on that weird balance thing Aang used to do while meditating (no, it is not as easy as it looks). She also has Hinata practice keeping her movements light on her feet, the way Aang had always done that made it so much harder to pinpoint his location.</p><p>Ino and Kiba are working towards fire- the mindset, at least- every day. The two meditate in the sunniest spot they can find every morning while Hinata practices her windy-leafy-dodgy-thingamabob (That Toph is so glad she remembered, one drink more and she wouldn’t have been any help at all). They have a bit of a tendency to complain, but Toph is mostly sure they actually like it and are just whining out of habit.</p><p>Sakura rotates between sparring Toph, trying the gates or balance exercise with Hinata, and meditating with Ino and Kiba. Toph isn't sure what Sakura actually wants to do, and what she's just doing to be supportive, but she guesses diversity never hurt anybody.</p><p>Afternoons are spent doing whatever activity strikes their fancy at the time. Today, Ino’s talked them all into coming to a little civilian-owned tea shop. The tea isn’t as good as Iroh’s, but then, no tea really is.</p><p>“Meditation is actually kinda fun, once you get the hang of it, but do we have to do it in the sun <em> all </em>the time? At the rate I’m going, everybody’s gonna think I’m Kumoan by the time we get back to the Academy!”</p><p>“Big words, considering you’re the one who always reminds the rest of us it’s time to meditate and asks to go longer when Sakura tells us it’s time to spar.”</p><p>Toph smirks. She’s come to realize, in her time as Ino’s friend, that the Yamanaka has a tendency to complain about things she actually likes doing. The blonde's arms are crossed, and she’s probably glaring, but Kiba just chuckles.</p><p>“Alright, tsundere. I get where you’re coming from, but honestly, I’m willing to look a bit weird if I can figure out the famous ‘click’ our own mistress of zen keeps going on about.”</p><p>Hinata’s heartrate just barely rises. Toph was a bit worried about the girl’s skittishness for a while, but recently she’s gained a far calmer <em> air </em>(Toph can practically hear Sokka and Aang snickering) about her. It’s made Toph more than a little proud to see her friend-slash-student come so far in less than a year.</p><p>“I wouldn’t go so far as to refer to myself as a ‘mistress of zen,’ as you put it. I just feel a bit less… weighed down, by the world around me. Like Toph was saying, actually, back when she first suggested I pursue air. Figuring it out lets me kind of... breeze past worldly obstacles to focus on the more mental and spiritual side of myself. Gain a sense of distance, rather than be tossed about for getting too close to a storm.”</p><p>“That entire speech is exactly why you’re mistress of zen.” Here, Hinata sighs in what Toph thinks is merely a token protest (<em>she’s still okay with it though, right? </em> <strike> <em> Toph doesn’t know </em> </strike>). “But back to what I was saying earlier. Ever since you’ve figured out air, you’ve been all wise and stuff, and you’re impossible to hit to boot! Fire will probably be a bit different, but if it’s half as cool as air it’ll be worth the boredom of sitting in the sun for hours.”</p><p>“I’m glad to know you regard myself and my element so highly.”</p><p>“It is really cool, Hinata. But Kiba brings up a good point. We know what air is like from experience, but what about the other elements? I know you told us a bit about air and fire, but I’d like to know about the rest.” Sakura queries, shifting in Toph’s direction as she does so.</p><p>Toph takes a sip of her tea as she considers the question. She knows that hearing about the four elements for the first time can really color a person's view moving forward. She herself saw the entire practice of bending as an instrument of battle first and foremost up until she met Aang, who brought the more peaceful attributes to light. By comparison, the monks’ teachings sometimes made things difficult for Aang when it came time to fight.</p><p>Unless Toph strikes a good balance, these kids’ entire worldview could be skewed for the better part of their lives.</p><p>“Let’s see… Well, first off, there’s only four, compared to the jutsu elements. There’s earth, fire, air, and water. They’re always listed in that order, in an eternal loop. It’s best to imagine it like a bit of a circle. Uh, any of you have a pencil?”</p><p>Sakura quickly proffers her own .5 pencil. Toph takes it, along with one of the tea house’s paper napkins, and quickly sketches out the four element signs.</p><p>(There are some things that, blind or not, you just can’t not know.)</p><p>“The elements on opposite sides of the circle are considered equal and opposite. So for example, Hinata’s inclined towards Air. Air is free, and reactive. The opposite happens to be my own element, Earth, which is rooted and stubborn. Where Air dodges an obstacle, Earth stands firm and meets it head-on. Neither can truly be called a better option, each being equally good, but the approaches are completely opposite. Are you guys still with me here?”</p><p>“Yeah…” Sakura mumbles. “What you’re saying is, when there’s two different approaches somebody can take, Air will go out of its way to avoid conflict, but Earth will keep doing whatever it was doing before- even if it means a fight later. You can’t really say one is better than the other, though, so they’re equal.”</p><p>Toph nods.</p><p>“Exactly. Water and Fire are the same. Fire is singular determination, drive, and passion. It will push directly onwards into and through any obstacle in pursuit of a goal. Water, by comparison, is ever-changing and adaptable. It will allow an outside force to push it around, but it will get where it needs to go by taking the path of least resistance. Fire smashes through an obstacle, and Water goes around.”</p><p>The table begins to lapse into contemplative silence, but Kiba shatters it before it can truly start.</p><p>“So if they’re all just as strong, does that mean when we figure out fire we’ll be just as invincible as Hinata?”</p><p>“Hinata’s not invincible,” Toph says, a bit sharper than is probably good for Hinata’s self esteem. “Either practically or theologically. Practically, she <em> is </em> very difficult to hit. That makes her a very difficult opponent for some.”</p><p>Toph waits a second to make sure Hinata internalizes the compliment before continuing.</p><p>“However, she has very little in the way of offense. At this point, about the only way she’ll win a fight is if she lasts so long her opponent drops from exhaustion. That’s fine for Hinata, given she’s already said she doesn’t want to be combat-focused. She just needs to be good enough to stall if something drastic happens. All-in-all, she's actually set up pretty well for her goals, just not as the invincible fighter you seem to be imagining, Kiba. But! The elements are more than just a physical thing.”</p><p>Toph takes a moment to be absolutely sure her eyes point towards each and every member of the group. If there was ever a moment to convey absolute seriousness, it has to be this one.</p><p>“They’re also a philosophy, incorporated right down to your very spirit. Hinata’s ingrained, instinctual response as she continues to progress in air will be to let things go. To forgive. To never push back. In a lot of situations, that’s a very good thing. But, there will come a time when the only way for Hinata to triumph will be to root herself and hold her ground. And there will come a time when I, for all my stubbornness, will need to just let something go. It’ll be up to our own judgement to determine when that time is.”</p><p>It’s about now that Toph remembers that Kiba is <em> six </em>. As in, not old enough to comprehend a complex speech on the balanced philosophical nature of the elements.</p><p>“What I’m trying to say here is that no element is perfect. Thinking they are will only bring you defeat. Does that make sense?”</p><p>Kiba scratches the back of his head, probably sheepishly.</p><p>“Well, I have to admit you lost me in the middle, but I think I get the gist. Nobody is unbeatable, and don’t get too big a head.”</p><p>Toph nods. That’s good enough for now.</p><p>“Complexities aside, Toph does raise a rather important point.” Hinata murmurs. “I’m getting very good at dodging and stamina, but I have no real way to end a fight other than Gentle Fist, which I’m not terribly good at.”</p><p>“Well, we’ll just have to find you one! Maybe we can get you some kind of weapon that works well with air…” Ino muses.</p><p>“Um… If it’s at all possible, I’d like to avoid using a weapon. I… I don’t like to… to damage other... um, other people. Ideally, I’d finish a fight without… without so much as touching my opponent once. Unrealistic, I know, but-”</p><p>“That’s fine, Hinata!” Ino cuts in. “I mean, no physical damage, right? Assuming you’re going for a knockout, you could probably use a combat sedative to bring somebody down with minimal damage. My mom’s on a nonlethal capture unit, and she does that all the time! If you use a liquid, you’ll have to at least nick your opponent, but a powder you could just make the guy inhale. I guess gases would work that way too, but my mom says it’s <em> really </em>hard to avoid friendly fire with those.”</p><p>Hinata is silent for a moment. Toph can feel the vibrations travelling through her body that mean she’s opening and closing her mouth, probably in shock or awe.</p><p>“I... hadn't thought of that.”</p><p>“That's what you have me for!" Ino winks.</p><hr/><p>“Hinata!”</p><p>The girl in question looks up from her balance exercise to see Ino lugging a small bag of flour towards the sparring ring.</p><p>“I talked to my mom about the sedative thing, but she said we’d have to wait until we’re at least ten to start training with the actual stuff. But!” Ino hoists her bag of flour higher. “She also said that we can try using flour or powdered sugar during spars, so we can figure out how best to use the powder sedatives when we do get them. She said we can figure out if it’s working by seeing if our opponent sneezes or coughs on the flour. If they do, it’s working!”</p><p>Hinata is silent for a moment. Then, she leaps down from her balancing pole and lands lightly next to Ino. Then, to Toph’s shock, she goes and hugs the Yamanaka.</p><p>“Thank you so much for doing this Ino.”</p><p>Ino’s heartbeat picks up rapidly- flustered?- before she pats Hinata on the back awkwardly and shrugs.</p><p>“I don’t know why you’re getting so worked up about it. Honestly, anybody could’ve figured it out.”</p><p>Hinata pulls back from the hug, but keeps her hands on Ino’s shoulders.</p><p>“It probably doesn't seem like much to you, but it means a whole lot to me that I don't have to actually hurt anybody when I fight. So thank you for finding me a way around that issue Ino. Just... thank you.”</p><p>Ino's shoulders scrunch up towards her ears in what Toph thinks is a happy kind of embarrassment.</p><p>“I guess it was pretty smart of me.”</p><p>“I wonder if this means you’re water now?” Kiba cuts into the sentimental moment.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“I mean, fire punches through obstacles, but water goes around, right? And you found a way <em> around </em> Hinata’s problem, so are you water now?”</p><p>Toph takes this as her cue to interject.</p><p>“No. Ino is still fire. However, the best solution in this case could only be reached through and adaptable mindset- a water mindset. This is actually what I was talking about the other day. No single element can solve every problem, so there will always be times when you have to adopt a different mindset than what you prefer in order to succeed. Again, we can look at Ino. Her first instinct was to punch straight through Hinata’s dislike of causing injury- which was well known in this group beforehand- by getting her a weapon. But, when Hinata reminded Ino why just grabbing a weapon wouldn’t work, she managed to pivot and find a solution that worked with Hinata’s mindset. That ability to pivot actually ends up being very important for all elements.”</p><p>“Is that why you have us meditate so much? So we know ourselves enough pivot when we need to?” Ino questions.</p><p>“Eh, a little bit of that, but also because it’s about the only thing I know to give you for fire.”</p><p>Everybody in the clearing turns to face Toph.</p><p>“You… don’t know?”</p><p>“I mean, I’m not omnipotent!”</p><p>Toph’s friends continue to face her. They’re probably staring.</p><p>“I mean, I’m earth, not fire. I know there’s supposed to be a breathing thing to do with candles, but we don’t exactly have candles, and there’s a weird dance-y thing, but I don’t really remember it.”</p><p>“So you’re basically half-remembering, half-making things up as you go?”</p><p>Toph sighs.</p><p>“Pretty much.”</p><p>“I guess it makes sense that earth wouldn’t know as much about the other elements…” Ino muses for a moment, before her heartrates pikes in excitement and she turns to face straight towards Toph. “But! What I want to know is what this dancing thing is! I’m an amazing dancer, you know.”</p><p>Ino starts doing some weird, wiggly thing to accentuate her point. It’s probably dancing. Not that Toph really knows enough about dancing to tell, but she can make an educated guess.</p><p>“Well, like I said, I don’t really remember it… Uh, I think it’s supposed to be a two-person thing? And it ended with the two people facing the same direction, and they had their fists leaned over their head and towards each other. Kinda like…”</p><p>Toph shuffles into what she <em> thinks </em> is the correct ending pose.</p><p>“This? But I’m not actually sure.”</p><p>“Hmm… And you said it’s supposed to be two people?” Sakura hums.</p><p>Toph nods. She knows Aang and Zuko had done it together, when they showed the rest of the group. That could’ve just been because they only had two people, though. Or maybe it was made for one and Aang wanted to be able to include Zuko? Toph couldn’t say.</p><p>Sakura steps off her own balancing pole and makes her way over to Toph before settling into the mirror image of Toph’s own form.</p><p>“So like this?”</p><p>Toph considers. It feels right, to her at least.</p><p>“Yeah, I think so.”</p><p>“Alright, we have the end. If we can get the beginning, we can work on filling it in from there!” Sakura points out logically.</p><p>The allegedly pink-haired girl certainly isn’t wrong. Toph just needs to figure out how the thing starts.</p><p>“I know the two start out next to each other… And I know they go in a bit of a semicircle around and back to each other at the end…”</p><p>But how did it start? All Toph remembers is thinking it was weird and unstable. The kind of thing it’d be child’s play to knock over. Unstable…</p><p>Slowly, Toph wobbles onto one foot. Sakura follows along. From Toph’s point of view, Sakura’s position feels almost right… The feet are definitely in the right place. But the arms… They were…</p><p>A leaf blows into Toph’s face. Silently, Toph curses the leaf and the tree that made it.</p><p>Leaf… Tree…</p><p>“That’s it! Sakura, you need to hold your arms up like a tree!”</p><p>Toph holds her own arms up in a shaky approximation of what Aang and Zuko did so naturally. Fortunately, Sakura seems to get the gist. She rapidly brings her arms in and all of the sudden Sakura’s position feels familiar<em> , </em> like when Aang or Zuko did it.</p><p>“Then there’s the spinny thing, with the arms. And you’re supposed to get lower down… Into a lunge? Ish? I think? Uh, hang on, I’ll try first…”</p><p>Toph windmills her arms in and out to the sides as she switches feet and lowers herself into a side lunge. When she finally comes to a wobbly halt, Sakura follows after her. The motion, again, feels familiar as she senses Sakura moving through it, so Toph is probably doing something right.</p><p>“Okay… After that I think we’re supposed to lunge again, but it’s a front lunge with the other leg bent and the other arm forward.”</p><p>Toph wobbles forward on shaky legs as Sakura follows after her far more gracefully.</p><p>“And then there’s this one, which I remember pretty well. It’s a bit like an earthbending form, actually, but the balance is further back. But we’re supposed to be facing outwards, so…”</p><p>Toph pivots her back foot around to the front (nearly falling on her butt as she does), then squats down and backwards with both arms extended to her sides. Somehow, Sakura is still following along nearly flawlessly.</p><p>“Then we do the other side…”</p><p>Again, Toph spins around. She’s now roughly facing Sakura, who gives her an encouraging smile as she holds the pose (not that Toph realizes this). Regardless, Toph thinks she has a bit of a rhythm going now. She’s still wobbling, but the movements are coming back to her as she feels Sakura following along.</p><p>“And we pivot our forward foot, so we can step our back foot to the front and punch back the way we came like this… Then we turn on that same foot again, into another lunge, but this time our arms are held out like this… And now forward with one hand out and the other underneath it… And finish!”</p><p>Toph just about falls into the final step, barely managing to avoid a collision with Sakura’s own, mirrored fists.</p><p>The two girls hold the pose for a moment before Toph precariously straightens up, only to allow herself to fall backwards onto the ground.</p><p>“Okay, never doing that again. From now on, it’s earth sweet earth for me. All day, every day.”</p><p>Toph squelches some dirt into her toes while Sakura straightens herself back up.</p><p>“On the plus side, you remembered the dance!”</p><p>“Yeah!” Ino chimes in. “I can’t wait to learn it! Though it’s a little weird… I’ve actually never seen it before. What did you say it was called, again?”</p><p>“The dancing dragon. That’s honestly all I know though. Like I said, I’m earth, not fire.”</p><p>“And learning it's gonna help us figure out fire?” Kiba interjects.</p><p>“In theory.”</p><p>“Then let’s get dancing!”</p><hr/><p>The group (minus Toph) practice the dancing dragon for a while after that. True to her claims, Ino does pick up the dance pretty quickly. Kiba isn’t far behind, but it’s highly obvious that he’s thinking of it more like a form than a dance. Where Ino flows through the movements and adds her own little embellishments (which are <em> probably </em> supposed to make it look better), Kiba is far more mechanic in his movements, putting as much force as he can manage into his arms and legs whenever possible.</p><p>Sakura ends up finding her own little happy in-between. She flows through the movements pretty naturally, but puts far more force into hitting each pose than Ino does. All-in-all, Sakura actually might be the farthest along in being able to incorporate the dance as a fighting style. Perhaps the girl has been inclined towards fire all along?</p><p>Toph sighs just thinking about the pinkette’s element. No matter how hard she tries, she can never figure out which way the girl tips. Her spirit is actually brighter than Ino or Kiba’s, so it <em> should </em> be child’s play to figure out. Even the nonbenders of her previous world had enough of an inclination for Toph to discern. But Sakura was just so… balanced! Toph can feel both the stubbornness of earth <em> and </em> the free, forgiving nature of air in equal measures within Sakura. Both the heated passion of fire and the cool adaptability of water. It's more confusing than the doubled spiritual signature of the Avatar!</p><p>Okay, maybe Toph is exaggerating a bit. But Sakura's spirit <em>is</em> really hard to categorize.</p><p>Of course, Toph’s never been one to back down from a challenge. Every chance she gets, Toph focuses on her spirit-sense to try and figure the girl out. And every chance she gets, Sakura remains too balanced for Toph to discern.</p><p>It’s a bit ironic, that the one principle she’s learned to value above all others- the same one she preaches to her friends every chance she gets- is now foiling her. But hey, it’s not like it’s any different from any other thing she’s learned to value (<em> she just wanted Lin and Suyin to have freedom. To be able to make her own choices, the way she never could. But </em> <strike> <em> Toph fucked that up too </em> </strike>).</p><p>Sighing yet again, Toph asks if the group wants to switch to sparring or throwing practice.</p><p>They pick shuriken practice. Toph wonders if she can go back to her self-pity.</p><hr/><p>The sun is just now beginning to fall towards the horizon. At least, as far as Toph can gather. She’s never really had a good sense of such things. After all, the only way for her to gauge the sun’s position is to figure out which side of her feels warmer than the other. Back when she was in the swamp, she could get a much better view of things by passively connecting with the spirit energy of the vines, but her new world has a lot less spiritual energy than her last. The plants and animals have almost nothing! And the people... They're almost all too dim for her to sense passively, as she did before (one exception being Sakura, who she can just barely register if she's vigilant, but whose element she <em>still</em> has no idea about). Now, she has to sit down and focus to get any reading at all. Even Hinata, for all that she’s gotten a bit brighter since her ‘click,’ she couldn’t tell from a stranger without a second look (she has to rely on the earth for that).</p><p>Nevertheless, Toph seems to have guessed close enough. Sakura has just made her excuses to leave, and the rest of the group is splintering after her. But, before anyone in the group can truly leave, Kiba speaks up.</p><p>“Oh! While I’m thinking about it, my birthday is next week. I’m turning seven! I’m having a party at my clan compound, and it’d be awesome if you guys could come.”</p><p>“Sure,” Toph shrugs. It’s not like there’s anything keeping her from going. “When is it?”</p><p>“It’s on Thursday, it starts at one ‘o’ clock.”</p><p>“I should be able to attend…” “Yeah, I’ll totally come!” “I’ll ask my parents tonight.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Alright! Not too rusty, I hope. A teeny bit of a timeskip here, really no more than a month, to just before Kiba's birthday (which is July 7, if you're wondering). <br/>I tried to convey my thoughts on Toph's spirit sense, which are as follows: Canonically, she can use it to differentiate people. However, we have to keep in mind that this is done in the very spiritually-attuned Avatarverse. Over in the Narutoverse, where people can be trained as killers from six, I highly doubt any kind of spirituality, especially the balanced, honorable, and merciful spirituality showcased and idealized in the Avatarverse, would be encouraged. Plus, there's not exactly any spirits roaming about (unless you count summons, which I think are just regular animals that absorbed a slew of sage chakra at some point and set up contracts so they can maintain a proper human-to-nature chakra ratio to continue living, or bijuu, which are just chakra constructs [though Toph does think they're spirits]). So, there's a lot less spiritual energy around, and Toph has trouble sensing it without focusing.<br/>I also gave Ino and Kiba some more stuff to do in the form of the dancing dragon, because as much meditating as we see Zuko (trying) to do, it's not really fire-specific, and I wanted them to have their own fire-specific thing. The alternative was the candle breathing exercise we see Zuko doing at some point, but the idea of that one seems to be linking the flames to your breath, which Ino and Kiba obviously don't have the skillsets to do yet.<br/>All that said, thank you for reading! And thank you again for not giving up on this fic during its unplanned hiatus. Let me know what you think! ^_^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. For My Pack</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kiba turns seven.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Slightly quicker update this time. Maybe by the end of the year the gaps will be reasonable...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kiba, like any other six-turning-seven-year-old, is very excited for his birthday. First off, the older he gets the more stuff his mom will let him do on his own. And second, he’s about to have the awesomest party in Konoha to celebrate. All his friends are coming, and he can already smell his mom and sister baking his cake. They’ve just added the vanilla, Kiba thinks. Or maybe they added it a while ago and now they’re stirring the mix?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An investigation is necessary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba rolls off of his bed and flops onto the floor. From his new vantage point, he can see Akamaru curled up just past his nose. A goofy grin cuts across his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on Akamaru, it’s my birthday!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pup stretches and yawns before just barely cracking his eyes open. To Kiba, it’s plain as day that he’s asking, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why should I?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’ll probably be bacon for breakfast.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, Akamaru is up on his paws. Kiba smirks and scrambles up after him. There’s no better cause for getting out of bed than bacon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Akamaru trots circles around Kiba while he pulls his (slightly stretched) white training shirt with the long sleeves over his head. The pup then yips for Kiba to go faster as he yanks some severely grass-stained shorts on. When Kiba is finally ready, Akamaru races to the door and paws to be let out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Snickering at his partner’s antics, Kiba slides the door open. Akamaru takes off down the hall like a shot. Kiba is right behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they reach the kitchen, Kiba wastes no time barreling into his mom for a hug. Tsume shifts to accommodate him, and Kiba can smell the happiness and content coming off her as easily as he can smell the eggs sizzling in the pan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You excited to be seven?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s only his mom’s firm arm that keeps Kiba from jumping up and down as he responds with an enthusiastic, “Yeah!” And even that isn’t enough to keep him from vibrating in place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Akamaru?” Tsume intones darkly. Kiba snickers as he watches his partner shrink away from the plate of bacon he’d previously been set to devour.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A little ways past Akamaru, Hana is pouring cake mix into a pan. She looks up at him and suddenly gets a smirk that has Kiba’s sibling senses pinging like crazy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Say Kiba, since you’re so much older and more responsible today, I bet you can help me out with my chores now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba nearly laughs. He has far surpassed such tri-vi-val word games. If his sister thinks she’ll get one over on him that easy, she has another thing coming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opens his mouth to respond, but before he can, his mom cuts in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“None of that today, either of you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba absolutely does not pout. Only Hana pouts.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Breakfast is finished soon. It includes eggs, pancakes, fruit, and yes, Akamaru, bacon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba wolfs everything down like a starving man. Hana snarks about his voracious eating habits a few times, but his manners are good enough for his mom, so it doesn’t matter. After all, it’s not rude unless you see it being chewed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(That’s one of Kiba’s favorite Inuzuka proverbs. Granted, that old jiji down the street said it’s supposed to apply to killing people with your teeth, but Kiba thinks it applies to breakfast too.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After breakfast, dishes are done promptly (and not by Kiba!) before Kiba’s mom and sister go to finish setting up for his party. One of the Haimaru brothers stays behind to keep an eye on things, and is in the midst of glaring Akamaru down for his latest attempt to get at the leftover bacon when Kiba catches a familiar, earthy scent on the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba isn’t sure why Toph would be here. The party isn’t for another few hours. Nevertheless, it’s probably his responsibility to go and check. Not that he minds- Toph is awesome! She’s great in a fight, isn’t weird about stuff like most civvie kids are, and that element stuff she talks about is just plain cool. The only possible drawback would be that she sounds kinda like a teacher sometimes, and teachers are almost always super boring, but Sakura does that too so it’s probably just a smart person thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Haimaru is quickly notified, and Kiba and Akamaru trot off to meet their friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Toph!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph turns toward the boy/dog pair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’cha doing here? The party’s not for another hour or two.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, I forgot what time you said to be here, so I just showed up…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The silence stretches awkwardly for a moment. Kiba briefly wishes Ino were here to fill the gap in the conversation. Unfortunately for him, the blonde won’t be here to ramble any weirdness in the group away for another hour at least, so Kiba will have to make due on his own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you want to come hang out? My family’s decorating and stuff, but we can probably find something to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the last few months, Kiba’s gotten pretty good at smelling emotions, if only because he’s spent so long around his friends it’s become second nature to check on them. That’s how he knows Toph is relieved when he speaks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mentally, Kiba pats himself on the back for successfully navigating out of an awkward social situation and into a more comfortable one. He’s smart enough to know he’s certainly not the best in the group at diplomacy- in fact, he’s probably in the running with Toph for last place in that respect- but he’s been trying to get better, if only so he can match Ino in an argument. The blonde has him mid-conversation with no idea how he got there more often than not. Kiba can’t wait for the day when he’s the one putting her on the verbal back foot, rather than the other way around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That day, however, is pretty far away, and Kiba has a friend to entertain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba makes the executive decision to take Toph back to the house first. It’s best that Haimaru, at least, knows who she is before he starts wandering clan lands with her. After all, Inuzuka have always been quick to defend their pups, and Toph’s earth-y, metallic scent could easily be mistaken for an Iwa shinobi. Admittedly, most Iwa shinobi aren’t seven and don’t have the smell of Hashirama tree sap on their clothes, but Kiba knows better than to take chances with older ninja.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Haimaru, this is my friend, Toph. Toph, this is Haimaru, one of my sister’s partner ninken.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph bows about as deep as she generally does to teachers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Haimaru-san.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba sighs. When Kiba had given his friends more details on the Inuzuka ninken, Toph had started being oddly formal to Akamaru. It had taken a whole week to get her to go back to not using honorifics on the dog’s name. Toph had justified it with something about ‘showing proper respect,’ which, don’t get Kiba wrong, ninken are awesome, but it seems a bit much to treat them quite as… above? As Toph does. Then again, maybe she was just making up for not being weird in other places like most civvies by being extra weird in this one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fortunately for all parties, Haimaru does not seem offended in the least. He merely nods his head in acceptance. Then, he returns to his vigil over the leftover bacon (which Akamaru is still trying to get, poor pup just couldn’t see when he was beat).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, anything in particular you want to do? I found a rabbit hole we could go check out if you want, and if you don’t… I guess we have some board games in the closet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s check out the rabbits. I’d rather be outside than cooped up, anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba grins and nods. That, right there, is why he likes Toph. He’s run into civvie kids a few times in his wanderings of Konoha, and most of them either don’t want anything to do with him, aren’t interested in getting dirty, don’t want to leave the playground, or get tired after running from one end of a block to another. Toph, on the other hand, actually seems to like getting dirt or mud on herself, and can generally just about match his stamina. Plus, she doesn’t think he’s weird just because he can smell better than her. It’s a win on all sides!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, let’s go!”</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>It takes them a while to find the hole. Turns out, Kiba was looking in the wrong forest the whole time! He’d been searching the southwestern Inuzuka forest, when he should have just been searching the forest north of the clinic. They’d gone and scoured the whole southwest forest before Kiba had finally entertained the idea of possibly being wrong, at which point they’d tried the one north of the clinic and Toph had found the hole in five minutes flat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Has Kiba’s pride as an Inuzuka been wounded? Possibly. But that’s not the point. The point is that he and Toph are trying to see if there’s any rabbits or the hole has been abandoned when Haimaru runs up to notify them of Ino’s arrival.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right… Ino’ll probably be all mad at us. We’re all dirty and stuff…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see nothing wrong with being coated in a protective layer of earth.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba thinks for a moment. Then he snorts. Then he breaks out into full-blown belly laughing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Earth, because you’re… Ha! That’s amazing Toph.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph smirks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glad someone finally appreciates my sense of humor… Anyway, shall we?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba nods and they take off.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>Ino does not, in fact, get mad when Toph and Kiba show up covered in dirt. Instead, she merely sighs and mutters a low, ‘why am I not surprised?’ to herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose it wouldn’t change anything if I told you dirt can have a ton of really icky germs in it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba shrugs. In all honesty, he’s been trying to keep himself a bit cleaner since a mere week after Ino had joined the group, when she’d told them about all the different kinds of germs that can get stuck under your fingernails. It’s just </span>
  <em>
    <span>really hard</span>
  </em>
  <span> to play without getting at least a bit dirty, let alone do stuff like chores or training.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He is trying though! He always makes sure to wash his hands when he comes back inside, and he washes his face with soap instead of just splashing it, and he combs his hair before he goes to bed to make sure nothing is stuck in it and that it doesn’t get all matted together, all just like Ino taught him. He even scrubs all behind Akamaru’s ears, just to make sure his partner is as spiffy and clean as he is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba doesn’t say all that though. It feels kinda weird when he thinks about saying it, and Inuzuka are supposed to trust their instincts. Instead, he just waits and lets Toph make her quip about a ‘protective layer of earth’ and glances around to see if any of his family is around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mom is, in fact, around. She jogs over from the house, where Kiba thinks she and Hana had been frosting his cake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey brats!” Tsume drops her hands onto Toph and Kiba’s head to ruffle their hair. Kiba is silently glad she hadn’t ruffled Ino’s hair- the blonde really hates having to go through all the trouble of fixing it once she’s got it styled how she wants. It’s a bit annoying that Kiba has to try to fix his own rat’s nest, but at least his hair is short and doesn’t tangle quite as easily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Inuzuka Tsume’s the name. I’m this one’s-” Kiba’s mom hooks her arm around Kiba to drag him into her side. “-mom. I’m the clan head and all that stuff, but I’d rather we skip all the formalities. Just call me Tsume-san and we’ll get along fine!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba’s mom’s grin is canine, but far more fun than the sharp teeth would suggest. Kiba grins along with her. His mom is the best! Way cooler than the stuffy Hyuuga head who made his own two daughters fight each other for a dumb title, of all things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba turns to survey his friends’ reaction to his mom’s introduction, and his face promptly drains of color. Toph has the </span>
  <em>
    <span>look</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The one she gets when she’s about to say something snarky to one of the teachers, and normally that’s fine because teachers are boring and they can’t do anything back to her anyway, but it’s not okay now because nobody disrespects Inuzuka Tsume and lives to tell the tale, Kiba </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows</span>
  </em>
  <span> what happened to the last guy and </span>
  <em>
    <span>they still haven’t found him, oh kami Toph’sgonnadie-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph turns towards Kiba and he thanks every deity he’s heard of in his seven years of life because Toph always turns her whole body to face whoever she’s talking to, which means she’s going to talk to Kiba, which means she’s not going to talk to his mom, which means Toph will live to see another day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kiba? You alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba nods his head quickly, not trusting himself to speak after that close of a shave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, well, nice to meet you Tsume-san. I’m T... Beifong Toph.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beifong? Huh, figured you’d be the Hyuuga. With the eyes and stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Toph shrugs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I get that a lot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can see why…” Tsume watches Toph for a second more before visibly dismissing whatever concerns she may have had. “Well, the party should be starting pretty soon. Gifts can go on that little table over there. I’ll call you all together for games once everybody gets here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, I didn’t manage to get my gift wrapped…” Toph mumbles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s no problem at all!” Ino smiles as she cuts in. “Just put it between my gift and the one that’s already over there so Kiba can’t see it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two girls make their way over to the gift table, leaving Kiba to stand around awkwardly as he waits to greet his Inuzuka cousins and other friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata shows up exactly as the clock ticks to the set time (Kiba doesn’t even want to know how she managed that) in a full, formal off-white kimono with red borders and designs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Hinata says it’s actually fairly low formality, but Kiba refuses to believe that something more stiff than that garment exists in the world)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba is a bit flabbergasted at first, but that shifts to righteous fury towards the Hyuuga elders for ruining birthdays when Hinata explains how formal all of hers had been as Hyuuga heiress. That sparks a short conversation about what she’ll do for her next birthday now that her (jerk) dad isn’t controlling everything, which lasts until Sakura shows up a few minutes later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The little pink-haired girl shows up in a far more casual red summer dress with white borders on the hem. Next to Hinata’s heavy kimono it looks a bit overcasual, but the outfits manage to work together alright. The two probably coordinated the colors. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba is weirded out by himself for a moment. Since when does he pay attention what other people are wearing? And where did he learn to tell whether colors were coordinated or not? Kiba is worried for a few moments before he rationalizes that it’s because he’s been listening to Ino talk about fashion and stuff for months now. He’s had to pick a few things up along the way. At this point, it’d probably be weirder if he didn’t notice!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hana jogging over interrupts Kiba’s musing on his newfound fashion sense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You two Hyuuga-chan and Haruno-chan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata and Sakura nod.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, well, all the friends we know about are here…” Hana’s smirk turns teasing and she looks right at Kiba. “With all the lady friends you’ve invited, I’d think you were starting a harem if I didn’t know better.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba blinks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um… What’s a harem?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hana blinks back. Sakura opens her mouth, probably to explain, but Hana slams her palm onto the pinkette’s face before she can say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing kids your age need to be worried about! Now moving on, I’m Kiba’s sister, Hana. Gifts on that table over there, games are going to be starting soon, so you should probably head over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nobody moves. Hana looks at them expectantly until they start awkwardly shuffling towards where Ino appears to be talking to Toph and some Inuzuka cousin of Kiba’s.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>The party is a buoyant affair. Everything is set up so the kids can rotate through different party game stations at their own pace. There’s Pin-The-Kunai, an easy obstacle course to race through, a spot to fold little origami dogs as party favors, bubble blowing, and plenty more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba’s personal favorite ends up being the obstacle course. It has this really cool tunnel that you can slide through on your stomach if you get enough of a running start beforehand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The origami station ends up being a close second. Ino had modified the original origami design when they went to that station together. She’d made a little brown dog pin that she’d clipped onto the strap of her burnt-orange-and-yellow dress. Kiba had named it Kinmaru after Ino’s hair. Ino had then made another, matching pin for Kiba that she’d named Hiyakemaru in honor of the color of their skin after all the time they’d spent in the sun trying to figure out the fire thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba is still wearing the pin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pin-The-Kunai ends up being its own barrel of laughs. When Toph gets spun, she barely stumbles, and she doesn’t react to the blindfold at all. She starts making her way over to the board, and walks so confidently Kiba checks to make sure the blindfold is actually covering her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she sticks the kunai on the opposite side of the board from where she’s supposed to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata calls Toph out on her failure, but the dark-haired girl just sticks her nose up and proclaims in the snottiest voice that Kiba has ever heard that:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A kunoichi never truly misses her target.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This causes Ino and Sakura to burst into laughter. When Kiba tries to figure out what’s so funny all he can get is something about Aiko-sensei, so he assumes it’s something that happened in Kunoichi lessons.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every once in a while, Kiba kinda wishes he could go to Kunoichi lessons along with his friends. He’s pretty neutral on the stuff they’re learning- flowers and instruments and makeup and stuff aren’t awful, but they aren’t exactly cool either. The problem is that he keeps getting left out of the loop when the girls talk about it. Like right now, or the time he apparently drank tea wrong, or when he tried to sing along with Ino and failed horrifically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba sighs. Unfortunately, he is not a Kunoichi, so his thoughts on going to the lessons are a moot point anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They all get through most of the stations before Kiba’s mom calls them all back together for cake and presents.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cake for the humans is a big vanilla pound cake made in one of those fancy tins that leaves patterns on the outside of the cake once it’s baked. Kiba may or may not have forgotten the name, but he knows enough to appreciate the crunchy ridges and the pockets that fill up with the icing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cake for the dogs has plenty of chicken and bacon bits mixed in, along with some shredded carrot and olive oil. The ‘frosting’ and ‘filling’ are made of plain yogurt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba isn’t exactly sure why people decided they should be putting vegetables and other healthy stuff in cake, but Akamaru seems happy with it, so he doesn’t mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba is getting ready to dig into his slice when he notices a certain member of his friend group didn’t get a piece of cake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ino? Didn’t you want some cake?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ino looks up with surprise on her face for a moment before quickly schooling her features into an amiable smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, no, I don’t want to get crumbs stuck in my lip gloss.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Suit yourself…” Kiba says before sticking a huge, heavily-frosted bit of cake into his mouth. Ino is always really concerned about how she looks, but Kiba still doesn’t know why. To quote Sakura’s favorite book, ‘it’s what’s on the inside that matters.’ But Ino doesn’t seem to think that way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Say, Ino, you mind if I ask you a question?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba waits for Ino to hum her consent before continuing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you always so worried about the way you look? I mean, it doesn’t really matter all that much, does it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ino gives him one of the looks that makes him feel like she’s staring right through him. Kiba fidgets a bit, but tries his best to show her that he’s just curious, and not trying to insult her in any way. Ino seems to find whatever it is she’s looking for, because after a moment she deflates and begins speaking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“About a year ago… My mom didn’t come back from a mission. She worked infiltration. She was supposed to be doing a quick in-and-out, back in time to help me with my aim on the weekend. But I never saw her again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s the one who taught me everything I know about makeup, and fashion, and flowers, and all that girly-girl Kunoichi stuff people tend to underestimate. We’d spend hours trying out new looks when I was little…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ino pauses for a moment before continuing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess trying to make myself look perfect every day is kinda my way of remembering her.” Ino pauses again and starts smelling sadder than she already was (which Kiba thinks is pretty… well, not impressive, but still shocking- he didn’t know the normally bubbly girl could even get that sad). “I know it’s weird, and probably not very useful-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think it’s weird. You look awesome!” Kiba cuts in. “Besides, I’m an Inuzuka. I know how important it is to remember your pack, even when they’re gone. If spending a ton of time on contouring helps you do that, then contour away!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ino snickers and grins, causing a previously still tear to slide away, down and off her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m surprised you know what contouring is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! I may not be as smart as Sakura, but I pay attention! You talk about it enough, anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ino chuckles. Kiba grins back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, and I have an idea…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba scrapes icing away from one of the hardened, crispy crests of the cake. Then, he carefully snaps the ridge away from the slice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here, you can eat this! It’s all hard and stuff, so you don’t have to worry about it crumbling and getting in your lip gloss. Plus, it’s like, the best part of the cake anyway, so you’re really not missing out on anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! You’re, uh, sure you want to give it to me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure! I’ve got a whole slice anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba isn’t lying. He really doesn’t mind losing one ridge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ino, seeming to notice this, takes the ridge and pops it into her mouth. Carefully avoiding her lip gloss, of course.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde seems to like it a lot, based on how her smell got a lot happier when she ate it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba grins. He’s glad he could make Ino feel better. After all, at this point, Kiba’s known her long enough that she’s basically pack, and Inuzuka have to take care of their pack.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No, that’s not right...</span>
  </em>
  <span> Kiba muses. </span>
  <em>
    <span>This isn’t some chore I have to do because I’m an Inuzuka.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>(Shift)</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m doing it because I, Kiba, care about Ino, and because I don’t like seeing her sad, the way I don’t like it when mom or sis get hurt on a mission, or the way I don’t like people talking down to Sakura just because her parents aren’t ninja.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>(Click)</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m doing it because I, Kiba, want to take care of my pack, even if it means giving up some of my cake or spending an afternoon trying to figure out what contouring is or always asking about what happened in Kunoichi Lessons so I can talk to my friends about them or listening to Toph and Sakura lecture, even when they sound like boring like teachers or not getting to tease Hana when she looks super tired after a mission.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kiba? Is something wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No… Just figured something out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sun feels… not hotter, but more present, to Kiba now. He thinks that if he wanted to, he could pull it in and use it like food, like fuel to drive him on forever and ever if it’s for his pack. For his friends and family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And? What did you figure out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba blinks and looks straight at Ino.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I figured out fire.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two platinum blonde eyebrows shoot straight up.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well that chapter was fun! For those wondering why Toph is being more formal with Haimaru than she might be to humans, it’s because she’s about 80% sure that ninken are spirits. They aren’t, but Toph has spent way too much time around the Avatar &amp; in the spirit swamp to risk offending a spirit unnecessarily.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! So, this is kinda my debut fic on AO3. I'm mostly an ff.net writer though, so updates will probably be sporadic. Either that or I'll use this fic to procrastinate updating my other stuff... Anyway, tell me what you think :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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